ARTIVISM RESEARCH GROUP ARDA

ARDA is an informal group of nine artists coming from diverse backgrounds and disciplines and cultural origins, carrying out a long term research on artivism. It investigates how performing arts can innovate its methodologies and ways of working, in order to create positive social impact, mutuating tools and perspectives from ecology, feminism and activist practices. Together and horizontally, the artists deconstruct themselves, their sector and art to meet the challenges of our time and give concrete hope for a more just, caring, sensitive, playful, desiring, imaginative world.

The nine artists initially gathered at POLIMORFA Festival, a community-based project organized by BILOURA in Valchiusella, on the Italian Alps. They have been involved in collective creations with the local inhabitants in the 3° and 4° editions of the festival creating the perfromances REVOLUTION (2023) and MY HOUSE IS AT WAR (2024). This experience has shown a communal set of values, working principles and interests among the group, resulting in a shared intention of working together further.

Throughout the last years ARDA was able to develop methodologies for artivist practices during three artistic residencies in: Malta (2023), Turin (Italy 2024) and Galicia (Spain 2025), thanks to the support given by different organisations and programmes (EFFEA, Interplay Festival, Culture Moves Europe, A Casa Vella). Its methodological aim is to produce art slowly, deeply and sustainably (socially, environmentally, economically and culturally). Creating its own artistic language and codes, addressing different yet interconnected segments of work, such as civic participation, community engagement, marginalization and ecological crisis, ARDA is now moving towards its first production.

In November and December 2025 the nine artists will gather for a 5-weeks production residency and create around the topic of decolonization thanks to the support of the Art Council Malta,

ARDA is composed by Chiara Bosco (Italy), Elena Brea (Spain), Deborah Falzon (Malta), Claudia Sanchez (Spain), Bojan Milosavljevic (Serbia), Kjersti Nilsen (Belgium), Silvia Ribero (Italy), Angie Rottensteiner (Austria) and Julienne Schembri (Malta).