‘Refugee Youth, Public Space and Artistic Practice’ Final Conference 2022 in Amsterdam

The 2nd and 3rd of June marked the ending of our HERA research project on refugee youth, public space and artistic practice. It was two days of discussing different forms of global displacement and local emplacement, the meanings of different types of encounters in cities, the role of public and semi public space in processes of home and belonging, but also important critical reflections on our methods and our research ethics. We look back at a wonderful conference and want to thank all the participants for their contribution and enthusiasm throughout these amazing days.

And all of this on a basketball court, away from traditional academic spaces. We saw excellent and insightful academic panel discussions, but there were also opportunities during the conference to learn more about embroidering, button making, Sudanese cooking and mediamaking.  Stimulating new dialogues and bringing the arts and the academy into a deeper conversation with each other.

Thanks to all the people at BOOST Amsterdam for hosting us and making this happen. Thanks to Framer Framed for offering us a space to exhibit the output of our creative methods. We also want to thank Marco Martiniello and Katie Willis for two very insightful keynotes. And all the contributors who helped to develop an exciting conference programme and all the volunteers who worked tirelessly to ensure everything went smooth.

Take a look for yourself: