Center for Art and Peacebuilding (CAP)

The Center for Art and Peacebuilding (CAP) is the interface between Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and artasfoundation. It was established in 2020 with the express long-term goal of expanding a partnership created in 2012 as well as its activities.

Mission Statement

Artistic initiatives for peaceful conflict resolution, human encounter and mediation in situations of violence are currently receiving increasing attention in international cooperation as well as in the arts. This also applies to artistic approaches to highlighting social conflicts, coming to terms with the past and social reconstruction in conflict-affected regions.

The ZKF therefore is tasked with researching the potential of artistic contributions to transform violent conflicts, testing it on a practical level in projects and discussing it with experts and the general public. The Centre for Art and Peacebuilding (CAP) promotes the active involvement of ZHdK students, lecturers and researchers from all departments on the one hand, and the day-to-work work of the artasfoundation on the other. Both focuses are aimed at enabling CAP projects to actively engage with higher arts teaching and research. The CAP is committed to promoting international cooperation oriented towards equality and respectful cultural exchange.

  • The CAP is committed to peacebuilding in the sense of “positive peace”. According to Johan Galtung, the acclaimed Norwegian sociologist, this concept of peace not only means the absence of war but also includes establishing more social justice and a culture of peace within any single society and between different societies. This involves pursuing three core activities: Changing structural injustice, improving relations between conflict parties and changing individual attitudes and behaviour (according to the “Berghof Glossary on Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding”). In practice, this threefold mission encompasses diverse approaches, which the CAP engages with through artistic means.

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

    → Link to a statement by ZHdK President Karin Mairitsch on how the arts and design can contribute to peacebuilding.

Areas of Work

The CAP supports and initiates modules and exchange projects in the field of artistic engagement in conflict regions. To this end, it fosters networking and on-the-ground cooperation with organisations, institutions and initiatives in Switzerland and in conflict-affected areas. The CAP also promotes research on art and peacebuilding.

  • The topic of artistic engagement in conflict-affected regions is also integrated into ZHdK’s BA and MA degree programmes. The CAP also runs the CAS in “Arts and International Cooperation” as one of ZHdK's continuing education programmes and places its mentoring network at the disposal of ZHdK students seeking to develop their own projects in the field of “Art and Peacebuilding”.
    ZHdK lecturers and members of the mid-tier staff receive support within the framework of the ZHdK's “Intercultural Competence Coaching” service. If you are interested, please contact CAP: info.zkf(at)zhdk.ch

  • ZHdK lecturers and students realise art projects in conflict-affected regions together with experienced artasfoundation staff. Universities or artists from these regions are partners, for example in an exchange project for art education students with Switzerland and the South Caucasus. Reciprocity of learning is the programme.

Activities and offers

To promote artistic contributions to the transformation of violent conflicts in projects, CAP supports and oversees various activities and programmes. Every month, ‘Art in Conflict’, a series of public talks created in collaboration with artasfoundation, CAP and Gessnerallee, brings together practitioners from the field of art and peacebuilding who address the topic in a researching, conceptualising, or artistic capacity. The CAS Arts and International Cooperation is a continuing education programme in this field with an explicitly international focus. Additionally, there is also a coaching and mentoring programme for members of the ZHdK. Research is also an important concern of CAP. It currently runs the project ‘Contemporary Art, Popular Culture and Peacebuilding’ (SNSF, 2022–2026).

CAP works together with various organisations and initiatives.

  • The CAP regularly invites people to attend the discussion series ‘Art in Conflict’. The series addresses fundamental questions faced by practitioners such as: ‘What can art achieve in regions affected by war?’ ‘How do artists work to preserve human dignity, create new opportunities for encounters, and promote peaceful conflict?' These and other pressing questions should not only be discussed inside of the artasfoundation but should rather be opened up to a larger audience of interested people.

    ‘Art in Conflict’ is a hybrid event which is held in English and hosted at Stall 6 at Gessnerallee or occasionally at ZHdK, Toni Areal. Invited experts, who either work in or publish about art initiatives in conflict regions, give the initial impulse for the discussion via a short presentation or a text which is shared in advance. Interested visitors are welcome to follow or join the conversation.
     

    • Upcoming Events

    Wednesday, 18 June 2025, 5:30 - 7 pm
    Art in Conflict: ‘Theatre as Generator for Political Liberation‘
    with Iman Aoun (theater maker) and Toni Shapiro-Phim (director of the programme in Peacebuilding and the Arts and Chair of the minor in Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation, Brandeis University)
    Gessnerallee Zurich, Stall 6, Gessnerallee 8 & Zoom

    The evening focuses on the exchange between a theater maker and a researcher with a background in dance, discussing the intersection of human rights and art. The accompanying text Performance. A conversation between Iman Aoun and Toni Shapiro-PhimPerformance. A conversation between Iman Aoun and Toni Shapiro-PhimPerformance. A conversation between Iman Aoun and Toni Shapiro-Phim explores in the form of an interview what the unique qualities of drama and artistic work in traumatic contexts are.

    For the event on 18. June, please register here


    All events take place on Wednesdays at 5:30 pm, last for about 90 minutes and are in English in a hybrid format (on-site and on Zoom).

    Supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

    Art in Conflict_Drawing by Pumamimicomix

  • 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.

  • 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

  • → Link to the project “Learning from Inequality”

    → Download broschure 'Educational Exchange between Universities in Switzerland and in Fragile Regions' (currently only available in German; English version to be published soon) 

  • 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”
    → Link to the ZHdK podcast “Kunstlicht” with Eva Pauline Bossow and Prof. Dr Jörg Scheller (in German)

  • → 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
bettina.ganz(at)zhdk.ch

Mara Züst
Project Coordinator, artasfoundation  
mara.zuest(at)zhdk.ch

Dagmar Reichert
President of the Board of Trustees, artasfoundation
dagmar.reichert(at)artasfoundation.ch

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

Impressions