PRESS: „Artists At Risk“ – ein internationales Netzwerk für bedrohte Künstler*innen by Deutschlandfunk Kultur

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Source: Deutschlandfunk Kultur
21.12.2022

Interview in full (about 8 minutes, in German):

Here is a short summary of the interview:

Deutschlandfunk Kultur spoke to Artists at Risk’s (AR) Co-Founding Directors Ivor Stodolsky and Marita Muukkonen at the end of 2022, to find out how things had turned out, following a previous interview in April 2022.

As Ivor Stodolsky said in his opening words, 2022 was a very momentous year for AR. After months spent battling for visas for artists attempting to escape terror in Afghanistan in 2021, the situation only intensified. Due to visa-free entry for Ukrainians, Artists at Risk (AR) was soon developing new procedures for mass-relocations and an exponentially accelerated modus vivendi was achieved.

As Marita Muukkonen pointed out, AR could accommodate 325 Ukrainian applicants, mostly women who also came with their families. This was possible due to excellent cooperation with the Goethe Institute, among others such as SWAN in Sweden, AR-Barcelona and Teja in Spain, and MIR in northern Italy, and funders across the board.

As both directors emphasised, other regions are equally under threat, including Afghanistan and Iran, or Kurdistan, which continues to be bombed by Turkey. They shared their hope that the solidarity shown to Ukrainian artists would be carried over to artists at risk around the world.

Thanks for a well-balanced interview, Deutschlandfunk Kultur! Vielen Dank!