Cooperation for Art and Peacebuilding (CAP)

  • Picture Art in ConflictPicture Art in Conflict

The Cooperation for Art and Peacebuilding (CAP) is a joint initiative of Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and the artasfoundation. Established in 2020, it builds on a partnership dating back to 2012 and aims to expand its reach and activities over the long term.

Mission Statement

Artistic initiatives that contribute to the peaceful transformation of conflicts, social interaction, and mediation in contexts of violence are receiving growing attention in both international cooperation and the arts. This also applies to artistic approaches that seek to draw attention to social conflicts, address the legacies of the past, and support processes of social reconstruction in conflict-affected regions.

The aim of this collaboration is to strengthen the network of individuals at ZHdK who are engaged in the field of arts and peacebuilding, foster dialogue with experts and the broader public, and communicate the potential of artistic practices to contribute to the transformation of violent conflicts. At the same time, the collaboration seeks to explore and investigate this potential through practice-based projects and research activities. Central to the initiative is the involvement of students, lecturers, and researchers from all departments of ZHdK, alongside the practical expertise of the artasfoundation. This enables a close exchange between project work and the university’s teaching and research activities.

The collaboration is conceived as a form of international cooperation grounded in partnership, mutual respect, and intercultural exchange.

  • Background

    CAP is committed to a concept of peacebuilding grounded in the notion of positive peace. As developed by the Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, positive peace refers not only to the absence of direct violence but also extends to social justice, and a culture of peace within and across societies. According to the Berghof Glossary on Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding, this entails three core areas of action: transforming structural injustices, strengthening relationships between conflict parties, and fostering changes in individual attitudes and behaviour.

    CAP engages with these interconnected dimensions through artistic practice, research, and dialogue, exploring how the arts can contribute to sustainable peacebuilding processes in diverse contexts.

  • Statements and articles

    → Link to the highlight article “Von Respekt und gemeinsamem Verständnis” (On respect and shared understanding) in the ZHdK Annual Report 2023

    → Statement by ZHdK's President Karin Mairitsch on how the arts and design can contribute to peacebuilding.

    → Link to the article by Rana Yasaji, ‘Do you have Armenian ancestors’, Gessnerallee Zeitung, Summer 2025

Activities and offers

To foster artistic contributions to the transformation of violent conflicts, CAP develops, supports, and coordinates a range of activities and programmes. 

The monthly public lecture series ‘Art in Conflict’ – a collaboration between the artasfoundation and Gessnerallee – brings together practitioners, researchers, and artists engaged in the conceptual, scholarly, and practical dimensions of art and peacebuilding.

CAP also offers the CAS Arts and International Cooperation, a continuing education programme with a distinct international orientation, in addition to tailored coaching and mentoring opportunities for ZHdK students, researchers, and staff.

CAP collaborates with a diverse range of organisations, institutions, and initiatives.

Upcoming events

Conference: Frontlines of Engagement 2027
A conference on art in a world shaped by conflict
11–13 February 2027, ZHdK, Toni Areal

Frontlines of Engagement 2027, organised by the artasfoundation in collaboration with ZHdK and Artlink, is a practice-oriented conference bringing together around 120 artists, researchers, development organisations, peacemakers and mediators. Frontlines of Engagement operates at the intersection of art, peacebuilding, international development cooperation, humanitarian work and cultural research.

Further information to follow!

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‘Art in Conflict’ Discussion Series

The Art in Conflict discussion series addresses key questions that practitioners working at the intersection of art and peacebuilding regularly encounter: what role can art play in contexts affected by war and violence? How can artists create opportunities for dialogue, contribute to the protection of human dignity and the peaceful transformation of conflicts? Structured as a round table, these and related questions provide the basis for discussion explored in each event.

Art in Conflict is a hybrid event series held in English at Stall 6, Gessnerallee. Each session opens with brief inputs by the invited experts which serve as a starting point for an open discussion on the topic. The audience is warmly invited to either listen or actively contribute to the conversation.

Subscribe to the current programme of the Art in Conflict discussion series via this link

  • Wednesday, 16 September 2026, 5:30 - 7 pm 
    Art in Conflict: ‘From Design to Solidarity‘
    with Futuress (an international feminist publishing and educational platform working at the intersection of social justice and design) and Xaraxura (a community space and publishing collective in Tbilisi). 
    Gessnerallee Zurich, Stall 6, Gessnerallee 8 & Zoom

    How can design and its aesthetics shift perspectives and offer a critical view of existing power structures? Does design shape reality, or does reality shape design? Is every design political? And if yes, what responsibilities do designers carry? And how do new visual languages emerge through collaboration, ones that account for friendship, solidarity, and resistance? This conversation with the Futuress collective from Germany/Switzerland and the Xaraxura collective from Tbilisi, Georgia, explores design as a collective practice and asks how forms of community publishing not only communicate knowledge, but actively co-produce it.

    Futuress will be present on site, and Xaraxura will join online.

    Spontaneous participation on site is possible at any time. Participation via Zoom is also possible with prior registration via this link.

  • Wednesday, 21 October 2026, 5:30 - 7 pm 
    Art in Conflict: ‘Shifting Power Through Storytelling‘
    With Maša Hilčišin (documentary filmmaker, artist, cultural worker, activist) and Tamar Yarom (documentary filmmaker)
    Gessnerallee Zurich, Stall 6, Gessnerallee 8 & Zoom

    Maša Hilčišin and Tamar Yarom bring sensitive political stories to the screen. In this conversation, we discuss documentary forms of storytelling at the intersection of personal experience, collective memory, and political reality. What kind of images does political storytelling require, and where are its limits? At the centre are questions of responsibility and representation: how much violence can or should be shown? What possibilities of visualising social contexts do personal narratives and visual micro-stories open? And how can art create spaces in which storytelling not only documents, but also transforms and empowers?

    Maša Hilčišin and Tamar Yarom will join online.

    Spontaneous participation on site is possible at any time. Participation via Zoom is also possible with prior registration via this link.

  • Wednesday, 11 November 2026, 5:30 - 7 pm 
    Art in Conflict: ‘LOSING.IT‘ – Youth Share Their Stories
    With Simon Labhart and Markus Strobl (theatre and film practitioners from the association Schauwerk, Cologne) and young participants of the theatre production ICH.KRIEG.DIE.KRISE
    Gessnerallee Zurich, Stall 6, Gessnerallee 8 & Zoom

    This conversation centres on the young people who took part in the theatre project ICH.KRIEG.DIE.KRISE. The premiere in May 2026 was preceded by a several-month writing and performance workshop on the themes of war, crisis, and militarisation. Drawing on their own experiences, fears, questions, and visions of the future, the young participants collectively developed a theatre piece about growing up in a time of global crises. In this conversation, they reflect on their artistic process and on how they, as young people, perceive war and growing social tensions. What role can theatre play when feelings of powerlessness and uncertainty grow? And what hopes do young people have for the future?

    A conversation about socially engaged art from the perspective of young people who are often the subject of public debate, and who speak for themselves here.

    Simon Labhart, Markus Strobl, and the young participants of the theatre production ICH.KRIEG.DIE.KRISE will be present on site.

    Spontaneous participation on site is possible at any time. Participation via Zoom is also possible with prior registration via this link.

  • Wednesday, 9 December 2026, 5:30 - 7 pm 
    Art in Conflict: ‘Hijacked Information‘
    With !Mediengruppe Bitnik, an artist duo working on and with the internet as a medium, and Karena Avedissian, a researcher in disinformation, security, and social movements in Eurasia.
    Gessnerallee Zurich, Stall 6, Gessnerallee 8 & Zoom
     

    How is information deliberately controlled, distorted, and exploited? What strategies of digital influence are used, from social media campaigns and automated bots to data-driven propaganda surrounding elections, war, or systematic violence against civilians?

    Based on the 2023 displacement of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh as a case study, the conversation explores how narratives are hijacked to suppress understanding and thereby also resistance and collective action. Drawing on !Mediengruppe Bitnik’s artistic interventions, ranging from hijacking surveillance systems to producing “unreal data,” we discuss how artistic and activist practices can subvert these mechanisms of control.

    !Mediengruppe Bitnik will be present on site, and Karena Avedissian will join online.

    Spontaneous participation on site is possible at any time. Participation via Zoom is also possible with prior registration via this link.

  • Wednesday, 20 January 2027, 5:30 - 7 pm 
    Art in Conflict: ‘Divided and Shared – Collective Writing‘
    With author and editor Ulrike Ulrich and transdisciplinary artist and translator Sandra Hetzl meet in dialogue.
    Gessnerallee Zurich, Stall 6, Gessnerallee 8 & Zoom 

    Starting from language as a social and political medium, the conversation revolves around forms of collective practice: writing and translation as relational acts, editing as a shared practice, and the question of how communities are formed through language and listening. How does literary work change when it is understood not as individual authorship, but as a collaborative process? What conflicts, responsibilities, and possibilities emerge in this process? And how can spaces be created in which translation, care, and solidarity become part of artistic practice?

    ‘Art in Conflict’ invites an open conversation on literature, labour, and community, on the visible and invisible dimensions of cultural production, and on practices of thinking and acting together.

    Ulrike Ulrich will be present on site, and Sandra Hetzl will join online.

    Spontaneous participation on site is possible at any time. Participation via Zoom is also possible with prior registration via this link.

Information on accessibility and language
Step-free access
In spoken English

Illustration Art in Conflict

  • CAS Arts and International Cooperation

    The CAS ‘Arts and International Cooperation’ brings together artists and members of internationally cooperating organisations from the Global South and North. What they have in common is an interest in the potential of the arts to support social transformation processes and peacebuilding as well as a commitment to fair and sensitive international cooperation.

    Start of studies: January 2026
    Deadline for applications: 30 September 2025

    → Link 'CAS Arts and International Cooperation' on the ZHdK website
    → Link 'CAS Arts and International Cooperation' on the artasfoundation website

  • Coaching / Mentoring

    To support (international) projects in the field of socially engaged art and peacebuilding at ZHdK, the Center for Art and Peacebuilding maintains a list of experts with a wide range of expertise in this area. Lecturers and mid-tier staff also benefit from ZHdK's ‘Intercultural Skills Counselling’ service.

Areas of Work

Cooperation Art and Peacebuilding supports modules and exchange projects focusing on artistic engagement in conflict-affected regions. It fosters networking and concrete partnerships with organisations, institutions and initiatives in Switzerland and in conflict-affected areas.

  • Higher education

    The topics of artistic engagement in conflict-affected regions and peacebuilding may be incorporated into ZHdK’s Bachelor's and Master's programmes. To support student initiatives in this area, CAP offers access to its mentoring network and provides guidance in the development of projects focused on art and peacebuilding.

    Lecturers and academic staff also have access to dedicated support through ZHdK’s Intercultural Competence Coaching programme. For further information or to discuss potential involvement, please contact CAP.

  • Practical work in conflict regions

    ZHdK lecturers and students can work alongside experienced staff from artasfoundation to carry out art projects in conflict-affected regions. Universities or artists from these regions act as partners, for example in an exchange programme for art education students involving Switzerland and the South Caucasus. Mutual learning is at the heart of the programme.

Archive / Projects

  • Project 'Learning from Inequality'

    → Link to the project 'Learning from Inequality
    → Download broschure ‘Educational Exchange between Universities in Switzerland and in Fragile Regions’ 

  • Research

    The project “Contemporary Art, Popular Culture and Peacebuilding”, led by Jörg Scheller, investigates which forms of art and popular culture contribute to peaceful conflict transformation against the background of increasing social polarisation, hybrid conflicts and declining peacefulness worldwide, and which, on the other hand, have the effect of exacerbating conflicts. The project is therefore exploring three exemplary conflicts in three geographical regions: The culture wars in Poland, the frozen conflict in Moldova and Armenia during and immediately after an armed conflict. The research project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF.

    → Link to the project ‘Contemporary Art, Popular Culture and Peacebuilding’

  • Various projects

    → Link to ‘Art Education – inter-culturally’
    → Link to 'Art Semester'
    → Link to ‘Art Matters’
    → Link to 'Summer School for Art'
    → Link to ‘Art Cham’
    → Link to ‘Art at Risk - Conference 2020’
    → Link to 'Art in Conflict - Conference 2015'

Team and Contact

Bettina Ganz
Project Coordinator, ZHdK
Email

Mara Züst
Project Coordinator, artasfoundation  
Email

Dagmar Reichert
President of the Board of Trustees, artasfoundation
Email

[Translate to English:] Logo des Zentrums für Kunst und Friedensförderung

Impressions

  • Visit to the SHiFT theatre initiative in Tripoli, Lebanon during last year’s continuing education course. (Photo: Marcel Bleuler)Visit to the SHiFT theatre initiative in Tripoli, Lebanon during last year’s continuing education course. (Photo: Marcel Bleuler)
  • The complaints choir for international cooperation at the Art at Risk Conference, conducted by Tellervo Kalleinen (Photo: Evan Ruetsch)The complaints choir for international cooperation at the Art at Risk Conference, conducted by Tellervo Kalleinen (Photo: Evan Ruetsch)
  • The Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, Karima Bennoune, (right) in discussion with artist Tania Bruguera. (Photo: Evan Ruetsch)The Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, Karima Bennoune, (right) in discussion with artist Tania Bruguera. (Photo: Evan Ruetsch)
  • Model of the planned exhibition of Janset Aljarrah, a scholarship holder from Abkhazia, at ZHdK as part of the Learning from Inequality project funded by Movetia. (Photo:Janset Aljarrah)Model of the planned exhibition of Janset Aljarrah, a scholarship holder from Abkhazia, at ZHdK as part of the Learning from Inequality project funded by Movetia. (Photo:Janset Aljarrah)
  • Art Matters_up-and-coming art teachers from Switzerland talking with their colleagues from Abkhazia and Armenia. (Photo: Bastian Riesen)Art Matters_up-and-coming art teachers from Switzerland talking with their colleagues from Abkhazia and Armenia. (Photo: Bastian Riesen)