"Looking into Ourselves" – CUTOUT x KAOS

Under the Surface

KAOS Kranj X CUTOUT Kyiv

KAOS Cutting Edge Program

Expressing one's feelings, fears, and thoughts through collage art is an important art therapy technique. Cutting and tearing images and gluing them together allows people to create fragmented yet realistic landscapes or conceivable and unimaginable reflections of their inner world.

In a world full of uncertainty, falsified truth, violence and even war, two European collage art initiatives are joining forces. The Slovenian Contemporary Collage Art Festival KAOS and the Layer Culture House invited the co-founders of the art project CUTOUT COLLAGE from Kyiv, Ukraine, to share their knowledge, practices and art.

From August 9 to 17, 2024, Annete Sagal, Katya Syta and Olha Syta visited the city of Kranj to collaborate on various projects. The focus of the project is the presentation of contemporary Ukrainian collage art. Since the co-founders of the CUTOUT COLLAGE art project actively use collage art as a method of art therapy, we have prepared a program of master classes for Ukrainian families living in Slovenia, as well as a knowledge exchange program for pedagogical workers, art teachers and anyone who wants to learn about new methods to include them in their daily practice of working with refugees or other vulnerable groups.

Along with the art therapy program, the CUTOUT art project presented an exhibition of Ukrainian collage "Looking into Ourselves" as part of the Slovenian KAOS collage festival.

Exhibition concept:

Reflection, thoughts about changes in ourselves, changes in the perception of our surroundings, the country we are in, and values. 2024 – everything that seemed terrible at the beginning of a full-scale invasion is now a new norm that distinguishes us from those who are not familiar with the life of a country at war. We do not realize how we live in constant adrenaline, fatalism, and a fast rhythm, trying to survive and enjoy ourselves at the same time. How are you? What do you see in yourself today? You are a superman! Because you remain human.

The project was implemented with the support of "Culture Helps" - a project co-financed by the EU's Creative Europe program and implemented by the public organizations "Insha Osvita" (Ukraine) and zusa (Netherlands).

*The views and opinions expressed in the publication are those of the author(s) alone and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union or the European Agency for Education and Culture (EACEA).

Layer House, Kranj, Slovenia