Exploring the possible uses of art in negotiating social issues, SALT's Office of Useful Art research will expand to regions in geographical and cultural proximity to Turkey, including the Eastern Mediterranean countries as well as Armenia, Bulgaria and Georgia.

This year's first workshop at SALT Galata on Feb. 1 and 2 will be conducted by Miguel Amado with researchers Giorgi Rodionov, Nare Sahakyan and Laila Shariff's contributions, and will analyze art practices for social transformation from a curatorial and art historical perspective through theoretical implications.

The two-day workshop aims to discuss curating as a civic practice to contribute to the development of communities and active citizenship while offering solutions on issues such as inequality, discrimination and injustice. Unlike the mainstream art historical narratives, which are centered upon aesthetic parameters arising from a relation of spectatorship, this post-artistic model for museums problematizes the representational dimension of art.

Open to artists, designers, architects, activists, social workers and scholars, the program will question art's ability for social impact and related practices by collaborative thinking around themes like genealogy, criteria, case studies, critical terminology, manifestations, implementation and local examples. Participants will also examine useful art cases from neighboring regions of Turkey.

Miguel Amado is a curator, researcher and critic. He is currently the Director of Cork Printmakers, Ireland. He was formerly Senior Curator at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, England, where he contributed to the institutions' transformation into a "useful museum."

Giorgi Rodionov is an artist, curator and researcher. He was the director of the first gallery dedicated to photography founded in Tbilisi. He is currently conducting research on cases of useful art in Georgia in collaboration with SALT's Office of Useful Art.

Nare Sahakyan is a researcher and curator. Currently, she is pursuing her graduate studies in Art History and Curating at the American University of Beirut. She is currently conducting research on cases of useful art in Armenia in collaboration with SALT's Office of Useful Art.

Laila Sharif is an artist, designer and researcher. As a part of Mophradat's Art Fellowship program and in collaboration with SALT's Office of Useful Art, she is currently conducting research on cases of useful art from various countries located in the Arabic speaking regions.

The sessions are free and open to the participation of all.