Shared Visions

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Shared visions is a groundbreaking initiative to establish a transnational cooperative for visual artists – a democratic, solidarity-based structure committed to reshaping how artists live, work, and organize, especially in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, and across wider international contexts. It brings together an international team of visual artists, cultural operators, humanities scholars, web3 practitioners, and activists in a long and intensive series of activities that runs from January 2025 until October 2028.

The project emerges from a common concern: the increasing precarity of artistic labour and the shrinking space for artistic autonomy across the continent. Despite a growing number of graduates in the arts, many visual artists face limited opportunities, fragmented support systems, and a lack of access to markets – especially in Eastern Europe. Traditional state support is dwindling, while market mechanisms often marginalize experimental and non-commercial practices. Artists are expected to act as entrepreneurs while lacking the necessary infrastructure, legal protections, and collective tools to do so.

In response, Shared Visions proposes a bold alternative: the formation of an international visual artists’ cooperative headquartered in Serbia, a non-EU country with a rich cultural history but a fragile art economy. Unlike conventional institutions and enterprises driven by profit maximization, this cooperative will be owned and democratically governed by its members – artists and cultural workers themselves – combining entrepreneurial ambition with social purpose. In contrast to the often ambiguous line between genuine cooperativism and the rhetoric of the creative industries, this model is grounded in the principle of goal maximization: profits will be reinvested into collective needs, such as studios, legal support, and pension systems, while also supporting non-market forms of collaboration and mutual aid among members and local communities.

Supported by the Creative Europe Programme, the project is led by Foundation Fund B92 (Serbia) and implemented in collaboration with key organizations from across Europe: SOTA (State of the Arts, Belgium), Caradt (Avans University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands), SULUV (Association of Fine Artists of Vojvodina, Serbia), Landscape Choreography (Italy), Institute for Contemporary Art (Montenegro), Soshenko 33 (Ukraine), and KICKVOIDLÖOP Cultural Cooperative (Portugal). A wider network of associated partners – including Blue Cube Foundation (Bulgaria), INKA (North Macedonia), Platform ACCT (Netherlands) Kunstenpunt (Belgium) and Art Workers Italia (Italy) – contributes to the project’s knowledge base, advocacy, and regional connections.

The project will integrate expertise from digital commons and Web3 communities to co-design a secure and transparent digital infrastructure for internal decision-making and resource sharing. This will be paired with a feasibility study of art-related markets – from education and tourism to tech and finance – aimed at identifying new access points for artists and increasing public engagement with visual arts.

The Shared Visions cooperative responds to current crises in the art world while also proposing a long-term vision for a more just and sustainable ecosystem. By connecting local experiments with broader European networks, and by foregrounding solidarity, equity, and collective care, the project aims to empower artists to shape the future of their field – together.

The Shared Visions team will post regular updates here, on this blog. You can also find us on Instagram (@sharedvisions_coop) and Facebook (Shared Visions). If you want to know more or get involved, please feel free to contact us at sharedvisions.coop@gmail.com.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Creative Europe Programme. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Shared Visions je pionirska inicijativa usmerena na osnivanje transnacionalne zadruge za vizuelne umetnike – demokratske, solidarnosti zasnovane strukture posvećene promeni načina na koji umetnici žive, rade i organizuju se, naročito na Balkanu i u Istočnoj Evropi, ali i u širem međunarodnom kontekstu. Projekat okuplja međunarodni tim vizuelnih umetnika, kulturnih radnika, istraživača iz oblasti humanistike, praktičara Web3 tehnologija i aktivista, kroz dugotrajan i intenzivan niz aktivnosti od januara 2025. do oktobra 2028. godine.

Projekat je nastao iz zajedničke zabrinutosti: sve izraženije nesigurnosti umetničkog rada i sužavanja prostora za umetničku autonomiju širom kontinenta. I pored stalnog rasta broja diplomiranih umetnika, mnogi vizuelni umetnici suočavaju se sa ograničenim mogućnostima, fragmentiranim sistemima podrške i slabim pristupom tržištima – posebno u Istočnoj Evropi. Tradicionalna podrška države je u opadanju, dok tržišni mehanizmi često marginalizuju eksperimentalne i nekomercijalne prakse. Od umetnika se očekuje da deluju kao preduzetnici, iako nemaju potrebnu infrastrukturu, pravnu zaštitu ni kolektivne alate za takvo delovanje.

Kao odgovor, Shared Visions predlaže hrabru alternativu: osnivanje međunarodne zadruge vizuelnih umetnika sa sedištem u Srbiji – zemlji van EU, sa bogatim kulturnim nasleđem, ali i krhkom umetničkom ekonomijom. Za razliku od konvencionalnih institucija i preduzeća čiji je cilj maksimizacija profita, ova zadruga biće u vlasništvu svojih članova – umetnika i kulturnih radnika – i njima demokratski upravljana. Kombinovaće preduzetničke ambicije sa društvenom svrhom. Nasuprot često zamagljenim granicama između autentičnog zadrugarstva i retorike kreativnih industrija, ovaj model je zasnovan na principu maksimizacije ciljeva: profit će se reinvestirati u zajedničke potrebe, poput ateljea, pravne podrške i penzionih fondova, kao i u oblike saradnje i međusobne pomoći koji ne zavise od tržišta – među članovima i u lokalnim zajednicama.

Projekat je podržan kroz program Kreativna Evropa, a vodi ga Fondacija Fond B92 (Srbija), u saradnji sa ključnim organizacijama iz Evrope: SOTA (State of the Arts, Belgija), Caradt (Avans Univerzitet primenjenih nauka, Holandija), SULUV (Udruženje likovnih umetnika Vojvodine, Srbija), Landscape Choreography (Italija), Institut za savremenu umetnost (Crna Gora), Soshenko 33 (Ukrajina) i kulturna zadruga KICKVOIDLÖOP (Portugal). Širu mrežu pridruženih partnera čine: Blue Cube Foundation (Bugarska), INKA (Severna Makedonija), Platform ACCT (Holandija), Kunstenpunt (Belgija) i Art Workers Italia (Italija), koji doprinose znanjem, zagovaranjem i regionalnim povezivanjem.

Projekat će uključiti ekspertizu iz oblasti digitalnih komona i Web3 zajednica radi zajedničkog osmišljavanja bezbedne i transparentne digitalne infrastrukture za interno donošenje odluka i razmenu resursa. Uz to će biti sprovedena studija izvodljivosti umetnički povezanih tržišta – od obrazovanja i turizma do tehnologije i finansija – sa ciljem identifikacije novih tačaka pristupa za umetnike i povećanja javnog angažovanja u oblasti vizuelnih umetnosti.

Zadruga Shared Visions odgovara na aktuelne krize u umetničkom svetu, ali ujedno predlaže dugoročnu viziju pravednijeg i održivijeg ekosistema. Povezujući lokalne eksperimente sa širom evropskom mrežom i stavljajući u prvi plan solidarnost, pravičnost i kolektivnu brigu, projekat ima za cilj da osnaži umetnike da zajedno oblikuju budućnost svog polja.

Tim Shared Visions redovno će objavljivati novosti na ovom blogu. Možete nas zapratiti i na Instagramu (@sharedvisions_coop) i na Fejzbuku (Shared Visions). Ako želite da saznate više ili da se uključite, slobodno nas kontaktirajte na: sharedvisions.coop@gmail.com.

Stavovi i mišljenja izneti u ovom tekstu isključivo su stavovi autora i ne predstavljaju nužno stavove Evropske unije ili programa Kreativna Evropa. Evropska unija ni nadležno telo ne mogu se smatrati odgovornim za njih.