12–14 December 2025
IV Culture Congress
CONNECTION_BREAKUP
The world stands on connections: human, professional, emotional, historical, and cultural. We build connections, and at the same time, we face breakups between generations, cities, institutions, and meanings. What seemed unshakeable just yesterday, is collapsing today.
We live in an era when ruptures occur more often than connections. From personal dramas to global crises, we feel these fractures on every level: war, loss, information chaos, political transformation, forced displacement — all compel us to reconsider what once felt permanent.
Yet, breakup is not only about loss. It is also an opportunity — to step beyond the familiar, to make sense of the past, and to build new connections: stronger, deeper, more authentic. When the old order breaks down, it gives room for something new. It’s a moment when a leap into the unknown becomes possible, to the unknown that we ourselves can fill with meaning. And it is culture that can lead us through this.
But how?
How can we preserve the social fabric amid destruction? How do we restore broken ties between people, communities, cities, and countries? Which connections hold our society together — and which, when they break, make room for the new? How do we build new bonds in a time when traditional systems are falling apart? What role do artists, cultural practitioners, and civic initiatives play in this process? And where does culture stand in all of this?
We will seek answers to these questions. We will talk about the power of culture in restoring the social fabric; about how culture helps us comprehend tragedy and find paths toward the future; about what to do after the rupture; about institutions in times of instability; about new models of collaboration. And, of course, about connections — with ourselves, with one another, with our country, and with the world.
Culture keeps our dialogue going; it builds bridges between generations, territories, and experiences. Yes, breakups are inevitable. However, they do not necessarily mean destruction; they can also mean freedom.
We live in a moment when the old systems no longer work, and the new ones are not yet established. And that’s we who have both the right and the responsibility to establish them.
Are we ready for this?
