A group of four young artists led by mentor Serdar Yılmaz from Turkey and a similar group under the guidance of mentor Gagik Charchyan from Armenia were selected through an open call to participate in the project.

The exchange project was kicked off with a joint exhibition of the works by participants from Armenia and Turkey. The exhibition will remain on display at Akanat Gallery-Café until the end of the exchange on September 7th.

Seda Muradyan, president of Public Journalism Club introduced the overall project and the guests. She noted, “Every country is the palpable illustration of its culture since without culture a country is a mere geographic area. To turn our countries into something more than mere geographic areas with closed borders for our two societies the Public Journalism Club, in partnership with Anadolu Kültür, initiated the “Exchange of Painters” project.”

Dirk Lorenz, Charge d'Affaires at the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia delivered an opening speech during the event. The EU representative noted that culture is one of the best tools of enhancing dialogue between the two states since the language of art is universal and said “Reconciliation is possible notwithstanding the closed borders.”

Painters Serdar Yılmaz and Gagik Charchyan each presented their teams and spoke about their expectations of the project.

Speaking about the impact of the project Gagik Charchyan said, “For me it is important that artists from different countries have direct contacts without mitigation. This is how they search for and formulate universal concepts in culture and produce unrestricted ideas and new environments outside of the existing dominating concepts. ” Continuing on Charchyan’s idea, Serdar Yılmaz added, "Art is the language to understand and expose ourselves truly. Communication through painting with young artists both from Armenia and Turkey excites me a lot. I hope the friendships formed during these workshops and collesiums will help to open new dialogues between the people of Armenia and Turkey and do away with boundaries that hitherto exist."