In May, we had the joy of partnering with Reconnect Festival to co-organise the Island Lab – a 10-day immersive experience for in-depth artistic dialogue and connection taking place from 25 May - 3 June, on a Turkish island. It brought together a group of TFA Alumni, artists, and curators from Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, and Palestine, building on a pilot edition from last year.

The Lab offered a framework to explore, research, and experiment with new artistic practices and forms of collaboration. Through shared dinners, sensory walks, a joint exhibition and public presentation, and conversations that went beyond the usual “Where are you from?” or “What do you do?”, the programme created space to reconnect with ourselves, with one another, and with our shared humanity - in dialogue and in silence, through our bodies and inspired by the landscape.

The Island by Reconnect aims to serve as a meeting point for artists and cultural practitioners, activated through residencies, labs, and public events. It embraces the idea of a utopian island – a space where geopolitical discrimination is transcended, access is not defined by passports or borders, and cultures remain open to mutual exchange. It seeks to provide a secure meeting ground for artists who face exclusion based on nationality or passport-related restrictions.