This Club draws its inspiration from an Area Studies approach (inclusive of Balkans, Middle East, North Eastern Mediterranean). As such, it focuses on investigating the study of cultures and their cultural heritage legacies overtime, inclusive of the current artistic practices taking place in the regions. It adopts a historical and interdisciplinary approach to the study of monuments by using them as distinct categories of reference (as genres) on the basis of their local associations on the ground and the actual communities. Special emphasis is placed on the mnemonic categories (individual and collective, cultural memory and anti-memory, digital memory, etc). Memory constitutes a key focus within the dynamic urban landscape of activism and its monumentalization policies (eg. museums, conservations and cultural heritage organizations). as such, memory constitutes the fertile ground of interaction among different theoretical analyses and artistic creativity, private initiative, collective action, emotional expression and political negotiation.
Cultural production as a form of contemporary expression is associated with all other art- forms, such as visual arts, installations, ActionArt, photography, cinema, theater, performance, etc. Special emphasis is given to artistic creation as a genre of cultural expression and as a voice of protest of all those, who are subjected to social exclusion and gender discrimination.
The Art and Cultural Heritage Club collaborates with a variety of local institutions, such as museums, theaters, Thessaloniki Film Festival, etc through the promotion of educational programs and training seminars, aiming at the transmission of the relevant artistic skills with special reference to the theater and other performative acts. Target audiences are drawn from the wider public with a view to promoting the artistic sensitivity of participants through experiential and self-reflective seminars.
Finally, digital technology is promoted as a key venue in the creation of an e-culture, which is increasingly relevant to all the major social sciences and the humanities. Through different collaborations with local museums, cultural institutions and research centers we aim at providing special skills relevant to the use of electronic databases, digital imprints and the virtual journeys through the cultural paths of the research activities and engagements undertaken by the Lab and the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies.