For the 15th Youth Exchange Project, young people from different countries gather in Linz for a cultural and artistic exchange in the context of the Ars Electronica Festival. Bringing together creatives and socially engaged individuals between 16 and 26 years old, a multifaceted project takes shape during the festival days.
This year, the group focuses on artivism and peaceful forms of protest. In cooperation with the Ars Electronica Festival project Flood the Zone with Courage, interventions are developed in the POSTCITY, at other festival locations, and in public spaces. These interventions apply various artistic methods but are not always immediately recognizable as art projects. Festival visitors are encouraged to participate in the interventions—or perhaps they have already unknowingly become part of an intervention on their way to the festival?
We live in challenging times: wars, the climate crisis, the growing popularity of right-wing parties threatening democracy, as well as various other social, political, and personal challenges.
How do we deal with this? How can we raise awareness of problems and oppose them, instead of succumbing to despair and resignation? What can I personally do with the resources available to me to stand up for something important—without feeling the pressure or claiming to save the whole world?
Together, the participants develop forms of peaceful protest that may offer a preliminary response to these questions.
