PALIMPSEST 2nd Project Meeting

The University of Ioannina School of Fine Arts is the lead beneficiary of this project. The cross-border partnership includes the Region of Epirus as beneficiary, the Municipality of Ioannina as Associated Partner and also involves two Italian partners as beneficiaries, the University of Bari and the Province of Lecce.

The team includes members from different fields of study, such as installation artists, architects, graphic designers, computer engineers, educators and ethnologists, who have to work together, go beyond their area of expertise and, at the same time, bring along their particular vision in the project. Because of the multidisciplinarity of the team it is important to establish unobstructed and open communication but also to ensure a common language where nothing is taken for granted, to achieve a level of understanding of each other’s interests and also to reach a certain grade of sharing of envisioning and of the responsibility for the project.

So far, it has been noted that there are certain difficulties in the interaction among those who have the know-how and those who know-what and have to apply this know-how in order to realize it. The lack of programming knowledge on behalf of the majority of artists and architects deprives the group of a common language upon which to build their interaction. Nevertheless, other languages are used for intragroup communication; the story-telling capacity of the members in charge of content, as well as their capacity to produce images that depict the foreseen implementation, serve as cushion that mitigates other deficiencies.

The diversity regarding the team members’ backgrounds and areas of expertise can bring about difficulties that the group must overcome; at the same time, this diversity is crucial to achieving a positive outcome. The lack of common ground in regard to methodologies and working procedures gives the opportunity to re-think and re-invent processes that were, up until now thought as self-evident and taken for granted.

Having public administration sectors as partners in both countries can also prove to be a very fruitful experience. It is not a rare occurrence for academic researchers to drift away from practical, pragmatic and utilitarian approaches, and public administration partners can aid to refocusing on implementation and therefore enrich the project and facilitate its growth. It is needless to say that when it comes to these types of partnership it is, once again, crucial to establish a common language and a mutual understanding of priorities regarding actions and courses of action.