Aftermaths of the educational trip to Moldova

“Decolonising Cultures of Remembrance” Program Insights during the educational trip to Moldova between 28th April and 4th May 2026
On the bright background with a bit blurred blue and red lights there is a title of the project “Decolonising Cultures of Remembrance” and a subtitle “Program Insights” At the bottom there is a text saying Educational trip to Moldova with the dates: 28th April - 4th May 2026 At the very bottom of the picture there are logos of the projects partners on the white-ish background: Educat Collective, Coopera, Prismatica, Human Constanta, Art Platforma, Moldox, Solidarity Collectives, Queer Voices, Queer Cafe

The background of the educational trip

The trip to Moldova was one of the planned activities within the project ‘Decolonising Cultures of Remembrance”. The main idea of it was together with the participants to dive into the topic of Decolonising Cultures of Remembrance, trying to understand what it means and how it could look like. We also kept our focus on Queer Remembrance as big part of our program was integrated to the International Film Festival “Queer Voices”. It was and is important to connect history and past events with today’s continuities. What gets dragged from the past? What no? And why? How does it affect us? We wanted to learn about Moldova’s memorial culture, influenced by multiple empires and states, and marked by fragmented history, prolonged repression of traumatic experiences and competing narratives. To do all of that we had interactive workshops, screenings, discussions, and site visits.

We tried to diversify the learning and sharing methods during the trip. Besides well-known formats like workshops, discussions and round tables, there were also movie screenings, walks, collaborative artistic practices and interviews.

What happened during the trip

At the top of the slide there is a text: DAY 1 - April 29th, 1st Session. Introduction, mapping, expectations.There are two pictures on the slide. In the left picture there is a person standing and laughing with an open mouth. She is wearing a violet pullover and jeans. She wears dark brown hair in a pony tail. She is standing behind a white chair. In the second picture there are fragments of the small red flags from Soviet Union times. On one of them there is a profile of Lenin recognisable with Russian letters written in gold.At the bottom there is a text: DAY 1 - April 29th, 2nd Session. Historical Analysis of the Influence of Empires on the Region. An input & discussion with Igor Cașu Moderator: Elena Casiadi
At the top of the slide there is a text: DAY 1 - April 29th, 3rd Session. Walking tour & project ‘In Ruins: Researching Identity’ with carpet practice. A walk & discussion with Tatiana Fiodorova-Lefter.There are two pictures on the slide. In the left picture there is a person standing outside in the green bushy surroundings and smiling. There is a lilac bush near her. She is wearing a green coat, a gray hat and a brown scarf. She is holding a small melisa sprout in her hand. In her other hand she is holding a paper book. In the second picture there is a stone sculpture of people standing close to each other. The sculpture is rather old, the stone is faded. In the background there are houses and green trees.At the bottom there is a text: DAY 2 - April 30th, 1st Session. Socialist and Postsocialist Transition. An input and moderated discussion with Ovidiu Ţichindeleanu. Moderator: Fine
At the top of the slide there is a text: DAY 2 - April 30th, 2nd Session Option A. Visit to the Atelier of the artist Genadii Popescu. Small tour & discussion with the artistThere are two pictures on the slide. In the left picture there are some handmade puppets in the background. The puppets wear the uniform of the soviet union secret service officers: light brown uniform and blue-red hat. They are holding artificial small machine guns in their hands. At the front of the picture there is a small wooden table with a white kettle on it. In the second picture there is a picture of the sealing in the ethnographic museum. It is carved with decorations and is painted in colourful colours. At the very top the ceiling is made out of colourful glass. At the bottom of this picture there are pieces of white sculptures visible.At the bottom there is a text: DAY 2 - April 30th, 2nd Session Option B. Visit National Ethnographic Museum. A guided English-speaking tour in the museum
At the top of the slide there is a text: DAY 2 - April 30th, 3rd Session. The Culture of Memory in the Queer Activist Movement & festival opening. Public roundtable with GenderDoc Moldova, Educat, Transammans and Valentina Isupodjaeva (CNC) at “Queer Voices Festival”There are two pictures on the slide. In the left picture there are four people visible sitting around the table. There are coats hanging on their chairs. In the back ground there is a colourful wall with plastic mannequins on it. In the second picture there is an image of a round colourful carpet laying on the grass. The carpet is handmade out of fabrics.At the bottom there is a text: DAY 3 - May 1st, 1st part. On the road to Avdarma village (Gagauzia). Bus ride with carpet practice
At the top of the slide there is a text: DAY 3 - May 1st, 2nd part. History Museum of Avdarma. A guided tourThere are two pictures on the slide. In the left picture there are two people visible standing in front of museum boards. One person is smiling and talking gesticulating with the hands. The person wears a brown jacket. The other one is standing, listening and smiling. The person wears black clothes. In the second picture there is an image of a dendellion and other plants growing through the dry soil.At the bottom there is a text: DAY 3 - May 1st, 3rd part. Gagauzia through a postcolonial framework. A discussion hosted by Elena Casiadi
At the top of the slide there is a text: DAY 3 - May 1st, 4th Session. Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day. Public Screening at “Queer Voices Festival”There are two pictures on the slide. In the left picture there is a screenshot from the black and white movie. The person with short hair and in a suit is looking very friendly at someone, the person is smiling. There are subtitles at the top and at the bottom of the screen. In the second picture there is a brown wooden table visible with colourful papers and markers lying on it. It is visible that there are people sitting around the table. Some have their hands on the table, some stand near it.At the bottom there is a text: DAY 4 - May 2, 1st Session. ZINE: Co-Creation Collective Session. A Zine with Anna Vasina (Abstract Press)
At the top of the slide there is a text: DAY 4 - May 2nd, 2nd Session. Interviews with anti-authoritarian activists from Ukraine. A Zine presentation & discussion with Solidarity CollectivesThere are two pictures on the slide. In the left picture there is an image of a zine on the background with red lights. At the front page of the zine it’s written commemoration practices in the anti-authoritarian movement in Ukraine. The zine has a red sky with houses in it’s view. At the very front there is an image of the machine gun. In the second picture there is a map of the city of Mogilev done with gray and blue lines.At the bottom there is a text: DAY 5 - May 3rd, 1st Session. Public Film Screening & discussion with Prismatica at “Queer Voices Festival”
At the top of the slide there is a text: DAY 5 - May 3rd, 2nd Session. ZINE Presentations & discussion. Public presentation of our self-made zines at “Queer Voices Festival”There are two pictures on the slide. In the left picture there is a person sitting near the projector screen. The person is sitting on a chair. She has curly brown hairs, she is wearing blue and black clothes, she also has a blue scarf. She is pointing with her hand at the screen. On the screen there is a demonstration. There are a lot of people standing in the crowd, holding Moldovan flags and a portrait of Gorbachev. In the second picture there is a compilation of souvenirs from Moldova: a paper zine, a white notebook with a colourful flower on it and a word” Moldova”, colourful wooden pins in the form of flowers, block socks with a colourful image on them, a black postcard with a logo of solidarity collectives and a sticker saying “Queer solidarity smashes borders”.At the bottom there is a text: DAY 5 - May 3rd, 3rd Session. Group reflection and feedback on the travel

Pictures taken by Masha, Lilu and Fine from Educat Collective.

All in all we had a week in Moldova together with 25 participants. The time was shaped by layers of history, political complexity, and conversations about transformation — both personal and collective.
 Through exchanges with historians, artists, activists, and local initiatives, we explored how empires, Soviet legacies, nationalism, and postsocialist transition continue to shape everyday life and political realities in Moldova and beyond. 

One recurring question throughout the week was how dominant narratives and societal goals shift whenever political systems and structures of power change — from Ottoman to Tsarist rule, from the Soviet Union to post-Soviet neoliberal realities.


Discussions around imperialism, queer remembrance culture, anti-authoritarian organizing, and regional geopolitical tensions revealed how deeply the past is interwoven with the present. 

Questions of language also became political in very immediate ways: Russian, still widely spoken in the region, carried very different meanings depending on personal histories and experiences of war, displacement, or resistance.


What stayed throughout the week was a strong awareness of plurality — plurality of voices, identities, memories, and experiences that resist simplified narratives about Eastern Europe – and yet, so many stories remained untold and forgotten, for example the enslavement of Roma people. 

Between brutalist architecture, artist studios, collective workshops, film screenings, and conversations over shared meals, the program gave a variety of impressions and impulses on solidarity, memory, power, and communities under pressure.

A-ha moments

There is a socialist brutalist style building on teh background. It is white and has a round big window with turquoise and blue and black mosaic around it. The sky is very bright and blue. There is a text in the picture: after our educational journey, something became very clear: decolonial learning cannot be purely theoretical.
In the picture there are wooden hand-made objects. There is a small well, the entrance to the village house with the small fence, a house with a straw roof. The wall in the background is bright green, There is a text in teh background: what stayed with many participants were not only teh academic inputs, but the informal conversations, grassroots practices, artistic interventions, and moments of emotional honesty.
In teh picture there is a person in a blue long coat holding a book in the hands. The book has black and blue drawings and a text. The person also wears a brown scarf. There is a text in the background: local perspectives and stories brought us some steps closer to understanding the complexity of Moldova's history and its layered identities.
There is an old Moldova film building with Moldovan and EU flags on it. The building is grey and has many windows. The sky is blue, but with many clouds. There is a text in the background: being physicaly present in spaces of resistance changed perspectives in ways theory alone cannot.
In the picture there is a performance, where the person is dancing. The light is red. There are a lot of people in the background, looking at the dancing person and cheering. The person is wearing knee high high heels, a skirt and a jacket. There is a text in the background: queer visibility and resistance are deeply connected to questions and processes of decolonisation.
The picture is a shot during the online presentation with a speaker. The speaker is seen on the left side. He is wearing glasses and has grey hair. On the right there is a map of Europe with countries marked black and grey. There is a text in the background: embodied, emotional and relational forms of learning stay with us more than purely academic language.
There is a fragment of the Moldovan carpet shown in the picture. There are colourful figures and ornaments. One figure of a person holding their hands on the hips is visible. There is a text I the background: different levels of being affected and responsible within decolonial work need acknowledgement and space.
There is a picture of person holding a printed paper zine in their hand with a blue sky in the background. The cover of the zine is white and red. it says Commemoration practices in the anti-authoritarian movement in Ukraine.

Pictures taken by Lilu from Educat Collective.

Some of the most meaningful moments happened outside formal sessions: on bus rides, while knitting a carpet together, in artistic and activist spaces during shared reflective moments and encounters between people with very different backgrounds. These were the moments, in which we learned the most and got inspired the most.

Our participants reflected on the importance of practical interaction, emotional learning, grassroots organising, and being present in spaces of queer visibility and resistance. At the same time, the reflection process also made clear where more space, care, and discussion were needed – around different levels of affection and responsibility, accessibility, safety, rest, and underrepresented perspectives.

Project partners

The project has been carried and inspired by a huge network of comrades, activists, artists and educators. For the recent episode of “Cultures of Remembrance” together with Educat Collective, there is Art Platforma, Human Constanta, Prismatica, Solidarity Collectives and Moldox involved as main partners.

Logo of prismatica. the word written in different colors.
A S in a C letter forming the symbol for Solidarity Colletives.
Logo Human Constanta - white H with green and orange in it and the rest of the words written in purple.
art platforma logo - art in red, platforma written in black
in pink written letters QUEER, in black letters CAFE - Queer Cafe Logo

Cultures of remembrance