The digital delegates' meeting of the IGBK took place on 04 July 2020

We welcomed many new delegates from our member associations Bundesverband Bildender Künstlerinnen und Künste (BBK) - Deutscher Künstlerbund - GEDOK and a new board was elected. The board of IGBK is now made up as follows:

• Andreas Schmid (Deutscher Künstlerbund)
• Christine Düwel (GEDOK), chairwoman and speaker of the board
• Doris Granz (BBK)
• Ingrid Scheller (GEDOK)
• Marcel Noack (BBK), chairman of the board
• María Linares (Deutscher Künstlerbund), chairwoman of the board
• Moira Zoitl (Deutscher Künstlerbund)
• Susanne Meier-Faust (GEDOK)
• Werner Schaub (BBK)

Congratulations! We are very much looking forward to working with the delegates and the new board in the coming years!

Opening of "Art Space Connect"

The opening of the IGBK project "Art Space Connect" also took place during the delegates' meeting. "Art Space Connect" is a cooperation with GeoAIR and Centrala Berlin to strengthen the international exchange with independent art initiatives and artist-run spaces in Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.

Tinatin Gurgenidze from the Tbilisi Architecture Biennal and Dr. Marika Kuźmicz from the Arton Foundation in Warsaw reported on digitisation strategies in response to the Corona crisis, on their international cooperations and on financing structures for non-profit art initiatives.

The discussion was moderated by Sophia Tabatadze (GeoAIR). Marcel Noack - besides Moira Zoitl one of the two IGBK project leads for "Art Space Connect" - introduced the goals of this exchange in 2020.

Among other things, the following questions were taken from the opening discussion:

• How does an independent art initiative involve the public, especially with (new) digital formats? How many "non-digital natives" actually engage in those digital formats?
• What is the best way to get feedback?
• How can one select reliable partners, especially on an international level?

 There will be further digital discussions within the project and a final conference in November 2020 in Berlin.