We are artists with different citizenships, different nationalities and different histories. We are Jews, Armenians, Russians and Russian citizens of other nationalities, Siberians and Germans… We have one thing in common — we make jewelry. And we also understand each other.

For many of us, it is not safe to speak out at home, in our local community. Even when it is not that risky, the feeling of not being free still remains. We don’t want art to be created in constant struggle against things — we want it to be created thanks to them. Thanks to our association and support, maybe.

We want to create a structure where we and our colleagues who exist in a similar cultural context can feel a sense of solidarity across borders.

We want to create a space where artists can feel not just safe, but accepted and in demand. Where contemporary art finds its audience and receives recognition.

In recent years, due to the Russian war on Ukraine, military operations in Armenia, Israel, political repressions in Belarus and Russia, many of us wanted to succumb to helplessness, lie down and freeze. But in order to change something for the better, you can’t freeze — you need to move.

So we try to.