The arts and humanities have never been more important, in helping us to make sense of the profound challenges we are all facing in the 2020s. They function as a bridge to understanding between different cultures and a means to develop and grow in travelling between them. The arts and humanities are a cornerstone of human experience whose tangible benefits must be shared as widely as possible.
Dr. Jon Blackwood is a Reader in Contemporary Art & Research Lead at Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. A curator, educator & writer, his work focuses on the intersections between contemporary art, activism and politics in the post-socialist world. He has written extensively on contemporary art in the former Yugoslav countries, particularly Bosnia-Herzegovina and North Macedonia. He is currently working on a history of Macedonian video art, and an exhibition of Bosnian futurisms.