Danae Stratou and Vital Space invite people from around the world to participate in the art project ‘Open the Black Boxes’ by submitting online the One Word which best reflects what threatens them the most, or what they are desperately eager to preserve.

In this time of multiple crisis and uncertainty, marked by a global pandemic, economic depression, mass riots, police brutality, raising nationalisms and environmental crisis, it is now fundamental that people have a means to express their fears and hopes. For this reason Danae Stratou launches an extraordinary open call, offering a liberating opportunity for people’s expression and to take a pulse on the current situation by promoting a sophisticated and direct democratic practice.

The submitted words will be presented digitally as infographics that can be filtered by age, gender and country of the participants, and they will become part of a physical exhibition when the covid-related restrictions are overcome. Gathered without intermediaries, the words will become an extremely valuable record of our time: raw materials for artists, researchers, and people from every walk of life to make sense of the present crisis and reimagine our future.

Open the Black Boxes is an ongoing collaboration with Vital Space, a non-profit organization co-founded by Danae Stratou in 2010. It is dedicated to the initiation of art projects, research programs, conferences, publications and the formation of educational and media products designed to reach and influence a wide and diverse audience. Vital Space strives to demonstrate in the most practical manner that art has its finger on the planet’s pulse and can mediate human deliberation on the course of our future.

Kindly participate by submitting your One Word here.