About the project
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The project Things in Common does not claim authorship of the research itself, as exclusive rights to the studies belong to the respective researchers.
The project Things in Common does not claim authorship of the research itself, as exclusive rights to the studies belong to the respective researchers.
Things in Common began in 2023, when we met Professor Olga Sezneva from the University of Amsterdam. We shared our intention to create a research-and-art project focused on conflict and conflict mediation, and invited her to join us as a research consultant.
Olga proposed a coaching session for herself and her colleagues in Amsterdam, as part of her ongoing research project Contested Objects, Connected Histories. During the session, we discussed how to develop public-facing projects on sensitive topics and how to transform academic research into artistic exhibition formats. Several participants expressed interest, but it quickly became clear that one intensive session would not be enough to meaningfully engage with such complex and emotionally charged material.
This led us to launch an open call accompanied by a practical training program for researchers working on topics of conflict, memory, and displacement, with a focus on collaboration with artists and curators. As a result, several research teams joined the process, each bringing an active project that would become part of the foundation for the current exhibition.
The insights from this training formed the basis of a publicly accessible guideline, Developing Multimedia Storytelling Projects on Sensitive Topics, which can be found on this website. We see this guide as a practical tool for researchers looking to create meaningful, conflict-aware science communication projects.
After nearly two years of collaborative work, we launched an online exhibition that brings these stories together. Developed in partnership with the digital architects at Kodiia, the exhibition is housed in a custom-designed virtual 3D space and features a series of multimedia installations.
The exhibition centers around personal narratives— those of the researchers and of the people whose lives they study — placing them in dialogue to explore how memory, loss, and identity are negotiated across generations and geographies. The project draws on methods inspired by narrative mediation and seeks to create a space where contested histories can coexist without being flattened, offering visitors a layered and emotionally resonant experience of shared inquiry.
We hope that this project, in all its forms, will contribute to both small and large shifts in conflict mediation and inspire other teams to develop projects with similar goals.
Aleksei Poleukhin & Ksenia Diodorova
Curators of Things in Common, cofounders of the Research & Art Museum
Olga proposed a coaching session for herself and her colleagues in Amsterdam, as part of her ongoing research project Contested Objects, Connected Histories. During the session, we discussed how to develop public-facing projects on sensitive topics and how to transform academic research into artistic exhibition formats. Several participants expressed interest, but it quickly became clear that one intensive session would not be enough to meaningfully engage with such complex and emotionally charged material.
This led us to launch an open call accompanied by a practical training program for researchers working on topics of conflict, memory, and displacement, with a focus on collaboration with artists and curators. As a result, several research teams joined the process, each bringing an active project that would become part of the foundation for the current exhibition.
The insights from this training formed the basis of a publicly accessible guideline, Developing Multimedia Storytelling Projects on Sensitive Topics, which can be found on this website. We see this guide as a practical tool for researchers looking to create meaningful, conflict-aware science communication projects.
After nearly two years of collaborative work, we launched an online exhibition that brings these stories together. Developed in partnership with the digital architects at Kodiia, the exhibition is housed in a custom-designed virtual 3D space and features a series of multimedia installations.
The exhibition centers around personal narratives— those of the researchers and of the people whose lives they study — placing them in dialogue to explore how memory, loss, and identity are negotiated across generations and geographies. The project draws on methods inspired by narrative mediation and seeks to create a space where contested histories can coexist without being flattened, offering visitors a layered and emotionally resonant experience of shared inquiry.
We hope that this project, in all its forms, will contribute to both small and large shifts in conflict mediation and inspire other teams to develop projects with similar goals.
Aleksei Poleukhin & Ksenia Diodorova
Curators of Things in Common, cofounders of the Research & Art Museum
The project is being developed with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Research & Art Museum, and the own contributions of all project authors.