Ayarkut: Why inDrive is into art

Throughout history, art has drawn attention to social issues and events. In doing so, it has profoundly affected society, forcing people to contemplate realities they might otherwise ignore or quickly forget – and to not only see these things, but experience them.

Artists spread ideas through the immediacy of vision and the power of imagination. They engage the emotions, sidestepping some of our defenses, and in doing so, they can change society. There are countless examples of art’s power to fire up the public imagination, and so feed change: Think of all the movements that sprang up in response to the horror of the world wars (e.g. Dadaism, German Expressionism); Goya’s powerful Los Caprichos series calling out the irrationality and superstition of his time; or Yoko Ono’s 1964 performance Cut Piece, protesting violence against women. Think of any time of social upheaval, and artists are there - provoking, commenting, and showing the way.

So art, and artists, create conversations and bring about change. And so it’s important that artists of all kinds and from all places have the opportunity to express themselves freely, and speak with their audience.

Enter Ayarkut: Ayarkut is an international cultural organization that aims to achieve significant impact on society by collaborating with artists and art professionals, as agents of social change. It does so through the implementation of projects supporting the career development of such artists, and the execution of artistic projects aimed at drawing public attention to contemporary social, environmental, and other significant issues. (It’s part of inVision, through which inDrive works to extend our impact on the world.)??

Ayarkut sees contemporary art as a catalyst for change, and so works to extend the impact of art, artists and institutions who respond to current social and political challenges.? It’s especially interested in decentralizing art, that is, giving a platform to artists who live outside the big cities, where they’re less likely to be noticed; or who come from parts of society that tend to be neglected or unheard.?

As Nadezhda Zinovskaya, founder of Ayarkut says “We seek to enrich artists – and indeed the whole art ecosystem – by providing opportunities for artists to grow, and supporting projects that offer expertise, connections and visibility.”?

At the moment, Ayarkut is primarily active in Mexico, where they support a long list of projects that work towards these aims. These include Cobertizo, Lolita Pank, MArCE, Soma, PAC and Terremoto, among others. Now, Ayarkut is extending their reach to Kazakhstan; from September till the end of October they will take part in the ARTBAT festival of contemporary art in Almaty.???

They recently gave a presentation on the (many) projects they have lined up for 2023 - you can watch it here. Their line-up extends all the way from a community-centered project that culminates in a public food festival, to “interplanetary simulations that explore space conquest, planetary imagination and the possibility of the cosmos in case of a bleak future on earth”.?

And this is just the beginning!

For more information about Ayarkut, visit their website and follow them on Instagram.