CONNECTION: Artists in Communication

Transcription

CONNECTION:
Artists in Communication
With contributions from:
Susanne Bosch (GER/NI), Michelle Browne (IRE),
Chrissie Cadman (NI), Ele Carpenter (UK),
Fiona Larkin (IRE/NI), Christine Mackey (IRE),
Ailbhe Murphy (IRE), Andrea Theis (GER/NI),
Sabe Wunsch (GER) and Francis Zeischegg (GER).
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Contents
Foreword / Vorwort | Francis Zeischegg
Art Forms of Communication in Social Spaces of Action
Künstlerische Kommunikationsformen in sozialen Handlungsräumen 6
Susanne Bosch and Andrea Theis
Editorial Dialogue 18
Ten Projects
Susanne Bosch
Agency: A Viewing / Agency: Eine Besichtigung 34
Michelle Browne
New Éire 52
Chrissie Cadman
Abboutt and Bespoken
58
Ele Carpenter
Open Source Embroidery 68
Fiona Larkin
Fall 78
Christine Mackey
RIVERwork(s) 86
Ailbhe Murphy
Tower Songs 96
Andea Theis
Left Luggage / Gepäckaufbewahrung 108
Sabe Wunsch
Sand Action / Sandhandlung 128
Francis Zeischegg
Public Observation / Public Observation 140
Imprint 159
Art Forms of Communication in Social
Spaces of Action
Francis Zeischegg
Möntmann, Nina: Kunst als
sozialer Raum, Verlag der
Buchhandlung König, Köln,
2002
Where do I find a space of social interaction? In public? In
private? Is public space not to be found where social interaction takes place? What does communication in art mean?
Why do artists cooperate with others, work in a participatory
way, in dialogue with people in public places?
From the standpoint of art scholarship, so far, artists have
communicated through their work, that is, through their objects. The dialogue between the viewer and the artwork takes
place through the reception of the object. In the long run, global
changes evoke a shift of paradigms in the awareness of the
identity of the cultures. Strategies of intercultural understanding, new forms of interaction, new forms of cooperation and
Künstlerische Kommunikationsformen
in sozialen Handlungsräumen
Francis Zeischegg
Möntmann, Nina: Kunst als
sozialer Raum, Verlag der
Buchhandlung König, Köln,
2002
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Wo finde ich einen sozialen Handlungsraum? Im Öffentlichen? Im Privaten? Ist öffentlicher Raum nicht dort zu suchen,
wo soziale Interaktion stattfindet? Was heißt Kommunikation
in der Kunst? Warum kooperieren KünstlerInnen mit anderen,
arbeiten partizipatorisch, dialogisch mit Menschen in öffentlichen Räumen?
Vom eher traditionellen Standpunkt der Kunstwissenschaft
her betrachtet kommunizieren KünstlerInnen über ihr Werk,
also über ihre Objekte. Der Dialog zwischen BetrachterIn und
Kunstwerk führt über die Rezeption des Objekts. Langfristig
rufen unter anderem globale Veränderungen einen Paradigmenwechsel im Identitätsbewusstsein der Kulturen hervor.
Interkulturelle Verständigungsstrategien, neue Formen des Umgangs, neue Formen des Kooperierens und Teilhabens müssen
participation must be found. Miwon Kwon describes one of the
three ‘public art’ practices: Art in the public interest, […] focusing on social issues rather than the built environment […] and
which strives toward the development of politically-conscious
community events or programmes. >
Today, artists work and experiment in the conflicting area
of this paradigmatic change. They cross the boundaries of
‘communication’, illuminate the heart of social conflict areas
and discuss marginal problems in their artistic projects. In
other words, the roles are transposed. The dialogue itself is the
subject of the art. Reception takes place through the integration of the recipient into the art process. Viewers slip from
the passive into the active position and become co-producers,
become part of the artistic practice.
For decades there have been a growing number of artists
who use art strategies to explore dialogue forms and processes. Experiences of this topic were scrutinized and discussed
gefunden werden. Miwon Kwon beschreibt als eine von drei
Praxen der „Public Art“ die Kunst im öffentlichen Interesse, [...]
die sich stärker mit sozialen Themen befasst und [...] die an der
Entwicklung des politischen Bewusstseins von Communities
arbeitet. >
Im Spannungsfeld dieses Paradigmenwechsels arbeiten
und experimentieren KünstlerInnen heute. Sie unternehmen
Grenzgänge der „Verständigung“, beleuchten Brennpunkte
in gesellschaftlichen Konfliktfeldern und erörtern marginale
Fragestellungen in ihren künstlerischen Projekten. Die Rollen
verschieben sich. Der Dialog selbst ist Gegenstand der Kunst.
Rezeption findet statt über die Integration der RezipientInnen
in den künstlerischen Prozess. BetrachterInnen geraten aus
der passiven in die aktive Position und werden zu MitproduzentInnen, werden Teil der künstlerischen Praxis.
Es gibt seit Jahrzehnten eine wachsende Zahl an KünstlerInnen, die mit künstlerischen Strategien Dialogformen und
-prozesse untersuchen. Erfahrungen auf diesem Feld zu hinterfragen und zu diskutieren, war Gegenstand von zwei Seminaren,
Kwon, Miwon: One place after
another, MIT Press, Cambridge/
MA, 2004
>
http://eipcp.net/transversal/
0102/kwon/en
Kwon, Miwon: One place after
another, MIT Press, Cambridge/
MA, 2004
>
http://eipcp.net/transversal/
0102/kwon/en
www.kunstimkontext.udk
-berlin.de
www.interface.ulster.ac.uk/
projects.php?id=31&c=100
www.kunstimkontext.udk
-berlin.de
www.interface.ulster.ac.uk/
projects.php?id=31&c=100
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at two seminars that I was actively involved in: Künstlerische
Kommunikationsformen in sozialen Handlungsräumen (Artistic
Forms of Communication in Social Spaces of Action) at the
Institute of Art in Context at the Berlin University of the Arts
(UdK) (2006) and the Summer School Communication and
Interaction through Art in Public Spaces (2007), Interface,
Research Centre, University of Ulster, Belfast.
These discussions did not focus specifically on the definition of an ‘active’ or ‘interactive’ art, but rather on the examination of social processes in public as well as private spaces of
action and the effectiveness of art outside of the establishment, in the centre of societies, at their critical points. Artists
want to find out what it is all about and want to initiate exemplary processes, in order to provoke, to inspire, and evoke
political action.
In contrast to art that lies within the firm framework of
galleries and museums, the dialogical approach concerns art
in die ich aktiv involviert war: das Berliner Seminar Künstlerische
Kommunikationsformen in sozialen Handlungsräumen am
Institut für Kunst im Kontext der Universität der Künste (UdK)
Berlin (2006) und die Summer School Communication and
Interaction through Art in Public Spaces (Kommunikation und
Interaktion durch Kunst in öffentlichen Räumen) (2007) des
Forschungszentrums Interface der University of Ulster, Belfast.
Bei Diskussionen mit KollegInnen über diese Vorgänge
geht es nicht so sehr um die Definition einer „aktiven“ oder
„interaktiven“ Kunst. Es geht um die Auseinandersetzung mit
sozialen Prozessen in öffentlichen wie privaten Handlungsräumen. Es geht um die Wirksamkeit von Kunst außerhalb des
Betriebs, mitten in den Gesellschaften, an ihren neuralgischen
Punkten. KünstlerInnen wollen herausfinden, was vor sich geht
und wollen Prozesse modellhaft initiieren, um zu provozieren,
zu inspirieren, um politisches Handeln zu evozieren.
Im Unterschied zur Kunst, die in Galerien und Museen
einen festen Rahmen hat, handelt es sich bei den dialogischen
Ansätzen der Kunst um eine, die im Alltag der Gesellschaft an-
that exists in the day-to-day life of society and therefore often
relinquishes the protective function of a framework and is at
the mercy of extensive interpretations from all sides. It therefore seems to be crucial to separate these art approaches from
event culture and social work. Event managers and municipalities like to use the approaches developed by artists for their
commercial or public offerings, without allowing for the autonomous status of the art and honouring it accordingly.
The goal of both seminars was to expand on this discussion and to force the dialogue among the artists. Since my
own art experience lies on the periphery of art discourses, I am
interested in highlighting these boundaries and discussing
similar concerns and experiences with colleagues.
I invited not only students, postgraduates and colleagues
teaching art mediation but also a number of artists currently
working in Germany to present their work in the rather small
and therefore open atmosphere of the seminar.
gesiedelt ist und damit oft auf die schützende Funktion eines
Rahmens verzichtet und weitläufigen Interpretationen von
allen Seiten ausgeliefert ist. Es scheint daher notwendig, diese
künstlerischen Ansätze von Eventkultur und Sozialarbeit abzugrenzen. Eventmanager und Stadtverwaltungen nutzen
gerne die von KünstlerInnen entfalteten Ansätze für ihre kommerziellen oder öffentlichen Angebote, ohne dabei den autonomen Status der Kunst zu berücksichtigen und entsprechend
zu honorieren.
Diese Diskussion zu vertiefen und das Gespräch unter
KünstlerInnen zu forcieren, war Ziel der beiden Seminare. Da
meine eigene künstlerische Praxis vielfach an der Peripherie
der Kunstdiskurse anzusiedeln ist, interessiert es mich, genau
diese Ränder zu beleuchten und mit KollegInnen über vergleichbare Anliegen und Erfahrungen zu diskutieren.
Zum Seminar in Berlin lud ich nicht nur Studierende, postgraduierte KünstlerInnen und fachnahe Professionen in Feldern
der Vermittlung von Kunst, sondern auch aktuell in Deutschland arbeitende KünstlerkollegInnen ein, in der eher kleinen
One central discussion about how communication is used
in the arts tackles the contradiction created through the established relationships in a dialogical practice: Where, on the
one side, communication becomes the object of the artwork,
on the other hand, there is the danger that the initiating
artists forfeit their artistic autonomy. Because the marketing
of art functions by means of independent characteristics,
of an idea, a name, an image – that can just as well also be
the image of a group or of a movement. But what happens
with the allocation of authorship, with individual marketing
strategies? Is it usually a matter of cooperation or a fleeting
collaboration with people? What responsibility lies with the
initiators when projects with explosive political contents are
publicly presented as art? Or, to put it another way: How can
artists position themselves when their approach to art is put
under the yoke of educational establishments? When they are
used as welcome ‘service providers’ for the problem areas of
und somit offenen Atmosphäre des Seminars ihre Arbeiten
vorzustellen.
Eine der zentralen Fragen innerhalb der Diskussion über
Kommunikation in der Kunst betrifft den Widerspruch hervorgerufen durch die aufgebauten Beziehungen in der dialogischen Praxis: Wo einerseits Kommunikation zum Gegenstand
der künstlerischen Arbeit wird, besteht andererseits die Gefahr
für die initiierenden KünstlerInnen, ihre künstlerische Autonomie einzubüßen. Vermarktung von Kunst funktioniert über
Eigenständigkeitsmerkmale, über eine Idee, einen Namen, ein
Image – das kann ebenso gut auch das Image einer Gruppe
oder einer Bewegung sein. Aber was passiert mit der autorenschaftlichen Zuordnung, mit individuellen Vermarktungsstrategien? Handelt es sich in den meisten Fällen doch um
Kooperationen oder die flüchtige Zusammenarbeit mit Menschen. Welche Verantwortung liegt bei den InitiatorInnen,
wenn Projekte mit brisanten politischen Inhalten öffentlich als
Kunst präsentiert werden? Oder anders gefragt: Wie können
KünstlerInnen sich positionieren, wenn ihre künstlerischen Vor10
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society, in conjunction with problems of urban development,
failed efforts with integration and deficits in communication,
and their creative potential is not only used as a solution for
pending problems, but is, above all, abused for PR by political
parties?
Seven artists, and artist groups, so called border-crossers
between the boundaries of art production and social commitment, were invited to the Berlin seminar to present their artwork. The discussion over dialogue and participation becomes
particularly interesting when visual artists engage in alternating roles in the field of art mediation and art production; when
they temporarily act as gallery owners or curators, function as
publicists, or as founders of institutes, citizens’ groups or associations. A total of 17 very enlightening interviews of all artists that discussed their work are contained in the publication
Schnittstelle Kommunikation (Interface: Communication), a
document that was supervised and editorially designed by the
gehensweisen vor den Karren von Bildungsinstitutionen gespannt werden? Wenn sie im Zusammenhang mit Stadtentwicklungsproblemen, gescheiterten Integrationsbemühungen
und Kommunikationsdefiziten an den Brennpunkten der Gesellschaft als willkommene „Dienstleister“ eingesetzt werden
und ihr kreatives Potential nicht nur für die Lösung anstehender Probleme, sondern auch – vor allem von politischen Parteien – für PR-Zwecke missbraucht wird?
Sieben KünstlerInnen bzw. Künstlergruppen – sogenannte
GrenzgängerInnen zwischen Kunstproduktion und gesellschaftlichem Engagement – waren ins Seminar an der UdK eingeladen, ihre künstlerischen Arbeiten zu präsentieren. Besonders
interessant wird die Auseinandersetzung über Dialog und
Partizipation, wenn bildende KünstlerInnen auf den Gebieten
der Kunstvermittlung und Kunstproduktion wechselnde Rollen
einnehmen, wenn sie zeitweilig als GaleristInnen, KuratorInnen oder PublizistInnen tätig sind, oder als GründerInnen von
Instituten, Bürgerinitiativen oder Vereinen wirken. Insgesamt
17 sehr aufschlussreiche Interviews aller KünstlerInnen, die im
Institut für Kunst im Kontext
der Universität der Künste Berlin, Francis Zeischegg, Seminar
2005/2006 (Eds.): Schnittstelle
Kommunikation – Künstlerische
Kommunikationsformen in sozialen Handlungsräumen, Mensch
& Buch Verlag, Berlin, 2006
www.catalystarts.org.uk
www.ncad.ie/faculties/fineart/
sculpture_philipnapier.shtml
http://mikehogg.org
Institut für Kunst im Kontext
der Universität der Künste Berlin, Francis Zeischegg, Seminar
2005/2006 (Hrsg.): Schnittstelle
Kommunikation – Künstlerische
Kommunikationsformen in sozialen Handlungsräumen, Mensch
& Buch Verlag, Berlin, 2006
www.catalystarts.org.uk
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Berlin seminar group during the course of one year. This first
‘comparative’ study provided the basis for getting to know the
specific artists’ positions and to deliberate these according to
newly gained points of view and criteria.
Susanne Bosch, one of the invited artists in Schnittstelle
Kommunikation, picked up the thread and organized a continuation of the discussion begun in Berlin on Artistic Forms
of Communication in Social Spaces of Action in Belfast.
14 participants from Northern and Southern Ireland,
England and Germany, worked for three days from 14th to 17th
September 2007 with great intensity and efficiency in the
rooms of Catalyst Arts in the centre of Belfast.
The workshop was facilitated by four artists (Ele Carpenter,
Ailbhe Murphy, Susanne Bosch and myself) and consisted of
group exercises, individual work, presentations in the evening
and discussions. We met and explored the practice of local
artists such as Philip Napier and Mike Hogg (Carbon Design),
Seminar ihre Arbeiten diskutiert haben, enthält die Publikation
Schnittstelle Kommunikation, eine Dokumentation, die von der
Berliner Seminargruppe redaktionell betreut und gestaltet
wurde. Diese erste „vergleichende“ Studie diente dem Kennenlernen der spezifischen, künstlerischen Positionen, um diese
nach bestimmten neu gewonnenen Gesichtspunkten und
Kriterien zu reflektieren.
Susanne Bosch, eine der beteiligten KünstlerInnen in
Schnittstelle Kommunikation nahm den Faden auf und veranstaltete eine Fortführung der in Berlin begonnenen Diskussion über „künstlerische Kommunikationsformen in sozialen
Handlungsräumen“ in Belfast.
14 TeilnehmerInnen aus Nord- und Südirland, England und
Deutschland arbeiteten drei Tage vom 14. bis 17. September
2007 mit großer Intensität und Effizienz in den Räumen von
Catalyst Arts im Zentrum von Belfast.
Den dreitägigen Workshop mit Diskussionsrunden, gemeinsamen Übungen, individuellem Arbeiten und Präsentationen an zwei Abenden haben wir zu viert (Ele Carpenter,
Ursula Burke and Lesley Cherry, as well as Martin Carter.
Against the background of the Berlin foil, of the formulated
questions and the artists’ examples, the Summer School in
Belfast could function as an extrapolation and extension of
the Berlin discussion, and could thus contribute to the clarification and definition of terms that still floated around the
Berlin seminar as descriptive or valuating parameters, and as
such, barely modified criteria.
All participating artists (including the facilitators) worked
at precisely describing the artwork of their respective fields
and to answer the following questions: Does it concern cooperation, interaction or participation? How do these categories
vary? What is art in social spaces of action? Do the artistic interventions and interactions have calculable or rather incalculable consequences and impacts? Is there a responsibility with
respect to these impacts, which I must deal with? Do I want
to achieve something sustainable with my actions, transport
www.northdown.gov.uk/
uploads/docs/North_Down_
Art_of_Regeneration_
Publication_2005-2009.pdf
Ailbhe Murphy, Susanne Bosch und ich) geleitet. Wir blieben
nicht unter uns, sondern trafen auch die in Belfast lebenden
KünstlerInnen Philip Napier und Mike Hogg (Carbon Design),
Ursula Burke und Lesley Cherry, sowie Martin Carter.
Vor dem Hintergrund der Berliner Folie, den formulierten
Fragen und den Künstlerbeispielen, konnte die Summer School
im Sinne einer Fortschreibung und Erweiterung der Berliner
Diskussion fungieren und so zur Klärung und Definition von
Begriffen beitragen, die im Berliner Seminar noch als beschreibende oder wertende Parameter herumgeisterten, also noch
wenig modifizierte Kriterien waren.
Alle teilnehmenden KünstlerInnen (auch die Seminarleiterinnen) arbeiteten daran, ihre künstlerische Arbeit im jeweiligen Feld genau zu beschreiben und folgende Fragen zu
beantworten:
Handelt es sich um Kooperation, Interaktion oder Partizipation? Wie unterscheiden sich diese Kategorien? Was ist Kunst
in sozialen Handlungsräumen? Haben künstlerische Interventionen und Interaktionen kalkulierbare bzw. unkalkulierbare
www.ncad.ie/faculties/fineart/
sculpture_philipnapier.shtml
www.youtube.com/
watch?v=WavY3bpqs_Q
http://mikehogg.org/
www.northdown.gov.uk/
uploads/docs/North_Down_
Art_of_Regeneration_
Publication_2005-2009.pdf
www.youtube.com/
watch?v=WavY3bpqs_Q
a message or the like? Is there feedback? How can I find out
about the feedback of the recipients? Or is this not important
to me? To whom does the work belong? Is there a multiple or
single authorship? How can I market the work? In doing so,
what do I have to consider? When does the work stop being
art? What elements of autonomy are evident in this artistic
practice?
The broad range and ramified geographical origins of the
participants of the Summer School inspired mutual interest.
And in contrast to the Berlin debate, in Belfast I had clearly
dealt with artists who were experienced in communication.
The working process brought concrete results: The seven
aspects, mentioned previously, were elaborated on during the
course of the discussion. Seven concepts: cooperation, interaction, participation, sustainability, responsibility, authorship
and feedback form a sort of criteria catalogue that one must
clarify in terms of the processes of artistic communication.
Folgen und Wirkungen? Gibt es eine Verantwortung hinsichtlich dieser Wirkungen, der ich mich stellen muss? Will ich mit
meinen Aktionen etwas Nachhaltiges bewirken, eine Message
transportieren oder ähnliches? Gibt es ein Feedback? Wie kann
ich etwas über das Feedback der RezipientInnen erfahren?
Oder ist es mir nicht wichtig? Wem gehört die Arbeit? Gibt es
eine multiple oder singuläre Autorenschaft? Wie kann ich die
Arbeit vermarkten? Was muss ich dabei berücksichtigen? Wann
hört die Arbeit auf, Kunst zu sein? Was ist das Eigenständige an
dieser Kunstpraxis?
Die weit verstreute geografische Herkunft der ,,SummerSchoolerInnen“ inspirierte das gegenseitige Interesse. Und im
Unterschied zur Berliner Debatte traf ich in Belfast auf deutlich kommunikationserfahrenere KünstlerInnen.
Der Arbeitsprozess brachte Ergebnisse: Es wurden die
sieben schon genannten Aspekte im Laufe der Diskussionen
herausgearbeitet und formuliert: Kooperation, Interaktion,
Partizipation, Verantwortung, Nachhaltigkeit, Autorenschaft
und Feedback bilden eine Art Kriterienkatalog, den es im Hin14
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This clarification serves to orient the artists as well as the mediators and thus supports the classification and attribution
within artistic research.
The Summer School in Belfast became the foundation of
the decision to make this very publication.
blick auf künstlerische Kommunikationsprozesse zu klären gilt.
Diese Klärung dient sowohl KünstlerInnen als auch VermittlerInnen der Orientierung und hilft so auch einer kunstwissenschaftlichen Ein- und Zuordnung.
Die Summer School in Belfast wurde Grundlage für die
Entscheidung, die vorliegende Publikation zu machen.
Summer School participants
Chrissie, Sabe, Michelle
and Sinéad discussing,
Belfast, August 2007
© Andrea Theis
Summer School,
selection of participants’
questions, August 2007
© Andrea Theis
Summer School
at Catalyst Arts,
© Andrea Theis
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Summer School
at Catalyst Arts,
© Andrea Theis
Tactical Media: social
engagement, media, art
by Ele Carpenter, 2004,
updated 2007
© Andrea Theis
Editorial Dialogue
Susanne Bosch and Andrea Theis
Susanne Bosch and Andrea Theis, the joint editors of this
publication, are artists practicing in the public sphere as well
as being lecturers. Since meeting in 2005, they have cultivated
an ongoing conversation as artist-colleagues, fuelling their
constant search for the most challenging aesthetic language
to form an artistic invention. They conducted the following
dialogue over a period of several weeks in 2011, partly via
email, but mainly face-to-face and in their second language
English.
This book, including the editors’ dialogue and each artist’s
contribution, developed around seven terms that were discussed during the Summer School 2007 1 in Belfast. The artists
were invited to respond to questions around interactivity,
collaboration, participation, sustainability, responsibility, feedback and ownership in relation to one specific project they
have realized.
Reviewing all of the texts, it has become evident that
there are common threads underlying all the practices and
approaches represented in this publication such as negotiation,
the understanding of communication, the role of the artist,
questions of leadership and power, the importance of preparation and planning, necessary tools and skills, involvement
of people in a variety of functions and relationships. These
are elaborated on in the following dialogue, which seeks both
to frame the ten contributions in relation to these common
themes, as well as to bridge the time passing between the
texts’ origin and their publication, mirroring the artists’ process
of emerging understanding.
AT: This book is a compilation of artists’ writing aiming
to make their working process transparent to the reader.
It is meant to be a study book for people interested in, and
working in the field. The discussion between the ten artists
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began in 2007 during the Summer School in Belfast. Susanne,
I am curious to learn about your motivation to make a book
about Artists in Communication!
SB: Contemporary artists operating in the public sphere
aim to create work that is site- and situation-specific and
always set in relation to its context. That is the consensus of
the current discourse and the realization gleaned from centuries of public art and decades of participatory art. Public
space is not meant to be an expanded gallery. It is rather a
place for production, a replacement of the studio-process.
Because of the relation of public space and context, artists are
inevitably confronted with the people who inhabit the place,
its past, present and future. As a consequence, local people
and communities, in short, all stakeholders who have an interest in the location need to be consulted, have to be involved
in the research process, as dialogue partners, as participants
and as public. Conditions for art making need to be negotiated
between sponsors, artists, and art institutions and these many
publics. This is complex, as sites are used by multiple publics,
in a variety of ways that frequently change over time. This involves a multilayered scenario of communicative strategies,
such as facilitation, mediation, and continuous conversation,
inspiration, play, and sometimes humour. Further more it needs
in depth research and also a clear standing of the artist. Can
one learn these kinds of interaction and forms of negotiation
which artists undertake, such as strategies of integration and
participation of partners and participants? The motivation
for the Summer School and for this book was to explore these
complex scenarios and the even more complex toolbox of techniques and approaches for this type of process-based public
art which can produce a range of ephemeral or concrete outcomes. It is a challenge to develop a language that allows
others to participate.
Why are you interested in the discourse on conversational
practices?
AT: By its very nature aesthetics based on communication
and conversation involves other people. This is what I find
most challenging and appealing artistically. However, this
practice triggers a lot of questions. Multifaceted issues need
Context-specificy
Motivation for this book
to be considered in order to avoid not only falling into a trap,
but setting traps naively. Those traps might result from a lack
of experience, irresponsibility and incompetence in dealing
with other people and their interests and needs causing misconception, conflicts and failure. You made the complexity of
working in public space very clear in what you have just said.
My artistic practice had changed significantly in early 2004:
After having realized site- and context-specific installations
in the public space I began to experiment with process-based
projects involving myself directly as an essential, performative
element. The Summer School 2007 helped me to improve my
awareness about the aesthetic characteristics inherent in my
work. The ongoing debates we had – and still have – made me
raise new questions: What actually is the difference between
collaboration, cooperation and participation? How are the
terms understood in different cultural contexts? What is the
nature of the relationships built within a project? Where
does the artist’s responsibility lie? How can I communicate
adequately in different stages of a project? What remains
of what I am doing? How do I learn about the impact of the
art project?
What kinds of art are welcome in public space? Permanently installed public art has not always been, and is often still
not, widely accepted. Let’s take Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc (1981) 2
as a prominent example. The large sculpture in a public square
was sited without public consultation, and was very obstructive and visually challenging. Security issues were raised. Due
to a court decision after public protest, the work was eventually removed in 1989. Disregarding factual arguments, I would
like to focus on the users of public space: Normally people
don’t want their daily routines or surroundings to be disturbed
and because they have to live with the works they want to
have a say too.
I observe an increase of sculptural objects populating our
cities that are pleasant, but not intellectually challenging, and
functioning as instruments for city marketing. I think what
is true for public sculpture is often true for socially-engaged
and participatory process-based projects: Art that helps local
government or city tourism image-building on the one hand
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and is less challenging to the individual on the other hand, is
more acceptable and more likely to get support. The public
sphere as agora 3 seems to be an unattained ideal.
SB: Yes, shouldn’t the public sphere be the space for a
vibrant culture of critical and democratic debate? A lived
democracy is about taking part in forming opinions.
AT: I agree. Instead, communication between all of the
stakeholders of a public art project, be it commissioned or selfinitiated, is often dominated by their territorial claims, power
hierarchies, image neurosis or simply individual sensitivities.
These factors can become evident through controversial, sometimes conflict-ridden negotiation and permission processes,
see the debate on Tilted Arc above. We are both currently based
in Northern Ireland. Living here has raised my awareness of
territorial concepts. To me abstract nature of territory becomes
more obvious in this post-conflict and yet conflicted society.
However, of course contested borders between national and
cultural identity echoed for instance in insisting on traditions
or the status quo and defending one’s claims in society, community and business exist anywhere – locally and globally.
Understanding the subtlety of the relationship between place
and power here in Northern Ireland helps me to sense these
issues more easily in my own – the German – cultural and
societal contexts.
Susanne, you always point out the absolute necessity for
negotiation. It appears to be the basis of every process in
public and therefore plays a crucial role in the planning and
preparation of such art projects. Negotiation needs the
willingness to compromise and to involve participants in the
decision-making process. But how far do you think the artist
needs to go in order to realize a work?
SB: That is a really great and difficult question. After a talk
in Limerick, I was asked, how much I would be willing to go
along with a decision made by my participants or collaborators that I really did not support. I have to represent the event
in an art context and be able to defend the decisions. My
partners have to justify the event in their own contexts and
be able to defend these decisions. All in all, it is supposed to
make situation-specific sense. If, in the end, I decide to take
Deutsche, Rosalyn: Evictions.
Art and spatial politics, MIT
Press, Cambridge/MA, 1996
Place and power
Negotiation
Susanne Bosch: Artist Talk,
Faber Studios, Limerick,
12 th May 2011
Ownership
Philip Napier: Expecting the
Terror, exhibition,
4th February - 19 th March 2011,
Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast
See: www.ormeaubaths.co.uk/
exhibitions-2011/phililp-napier
-expecting-the-terror
Involvement
Confrontation
Communication skills
22
23
ownership of the piece I would certainly also challenge the
relationships and the idea of a collectively owned space. Put
in any other context: Is the most powerful always right, and is
that the correct approach? What is the most satisfying form
of negotiation?
AT: Do you have an example?
SB: Northern Irish artist Philip Napier said, in a talk
about his work, if we as artists insist on our voice and insist
in non-sharing, we would be in the Northern Irish context
like anybody else: stuck in time and position, dividing up, not
allowing any change. Joseph Beuys emphasized that a social
sculpture 4 is made out of clay not of stone. One can form it
easily.
I guess the limit of negotiation and flexibility is really
individually determined case by case. Everyone involved in
the making of an art project has to reach a point where s/he
agrees and is happy with the outcome. From that perspective
I do understand that artists withdraw at times. But if I, as
artist invite people to be the local experts, to advise, inform,
and correct me, to think with me, I cannot put myself in the
position of the definite decision maker.
AT: I know that you are aiming for integration and involvement in your work. Sharing in the process is core to your
practice. I am very much in agreement with your position,
your passion and your objectives. However I want to make
a case here for more challenging strategies, like intervening
into public space by provoking and disturbing, literally being
in people’s way and not being welcome. I think Christoph
Schlingensief’s Bitte liebt Österreich (Please Love Austria) (2000) 5
is a vivid example.
SB: The method he used is based on exaggeration which
helps participants and audiences understand in a striking way
the value of freedom and democracy. They might even unpick
more of what is going on in society and politics. Being involved
in the event certainly feels pretty uncomfortable as participant
and perhaps even as audience.
You are not afraid of confrontation either as a person, or in
your art works. So there is a personality trait behind your work.
What can one learn, what does one carry inside as gift?
AT: Let’s begin with what we can learn. When teaching 6
I organized Cross-cultural Competence Training 7 as part of the
MFA programme’s curriculum for two reasons. As the course
is international in content and reach there is a need to learn
about and develop an understanding of the cultural differences
based on the diversity of the entire group including students
and staff. Besides improving the way we were dealing with
each other internally we have learnt skills in non-violent communication 8 and conflict resolution which we can apply in
our day-to-day work as artists operating in public space. The
training helped me to improve my communication skills, my
perception and awareness. Therefore I have been able to develop both my practice and personality significantly. However,
some participants rejected the training. What I find imperative
within public art practice they considered to be superfluous
therapeutic nonsense.
SB: We invited TIDES to offer the students of the MA Art in
Public 9 some training in analyzing and managing conflict as
well as in identifying their personal take on conflict.
AT: When undertaking this kind of training one learns not
only new relevant skills, but an understanding of one’s individual personality and talents. I recently took part in training in
Generation Centred Leadership facilitated by Carol Cochrane,
University of Ulster. Discussing methods of team building, we
looked into two theories that explore our ways of relating to
each other: C.G. Jung’s theory of Psychological Types and the
Insights Team Effectiveness Model by Ian Faulder. While Jung
identifies different functions and attitudes (our psychological
preferences), Faulder talks about energies and their attributes.
Both draw conclusions about how our individual nature impacts on how we perceive and are perceived, and how we shape
our relationships. I learned that first of all I need to understand my own bias, then I can learn to use the features of my
character constructively to build relationships and to achieve
what I am aiming for. I can learn to apply tools to steer my
different capabilities, the strengths and weaknesses, to switch
them on and off.
SB: I think you are so right. It is about discovering your inner
pre-set and learning to ‘play that instrument’. I think that also
Fisher, Roger, William Ury and
Bruce Patton: Getting to Yes:
Negotiating Agreement Without
Giving In, Third Edition, Penguin,
London/New York, 2011
Glasl, Friedrich: Konfliktmanagement. Ein Handbuch für
Führungskräfte, Beraterinnen
und Berater, 10. Auflage, Verlag
Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart,
2011
Glasl’s Nine-Stage Model Of
Conflict Escalation
See: www.mediate.com/
articles/jordan.cfm
www.tidestraining.org
www.johnadair.co.uk
Jung, Carl Gustav: Psychological
Types, Collected Works of C. G.
Jung, Volume 6, Routledge,
London, 1991 (original German
language edition first published
in 1921)
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/
Jung/types.htm
www.insights.com/444-588/
are-we-all-the-same-now-.html
www.richcomp.org/pdf/
InsightsDiscoveryPresentation.
pdf
Communication
>
Maser, Siegfried: Grundlagen
der allgemeinen Kommunikationstheorie, Verlag Berliner
Union, Stuttgart, 1971
Performativity
>
Austin, John L.: How to do
things with words, 2nd edition,
Harvard University Press,
Cambridge/MA, 1962
> Sowa, Hubert: From an INFuG
point of view, 1999
See: www.asa.de/magazine/
iss3/11hubert.htm
Kaprow, Allan: Essays on the
Blurring of Art and Life, expanded edition, ed. by Jeff Kelley,
University of California Press,
Berkley, 2003
Browne: New Éire, p. 52
Bosch: Agency: A Viewing, p. 34
24
25
determines your authentic language in communication and
connecting with the world.
AT: ‘Communication’, derived from the Latin term ‘communicare’, in itself means interaction and goes beyond the model
of the sender sending information and the receiver receiving
this information. Communicating is exchanging, sharing and
participating, consulting with each other, understanding and
making oneself understood. The original Latin term emphasizes joint activity. >
SB: This is where the social element of communication
comes into play.
AT: Yes. And when we are actually talking to each other, it
is not only the words, but even more so, elements such as the
tone of voice and the body language which contribute to the
message. 10
This in turn leads directly to the notion of performativity:
Speaking is acting. All utterances are performative, not only
descriptions or statements. > Verbal language not only expresses concepts but creates them, and language is created by
concepts. The way we are, the way we act or perform, so to say,
giving an account of ourselves. 11
This is important to consider in relation to participatory
or collaborative art projects in the public sphere. The work is
moulded by the artist’s idea and capability of communication.
Here, ‘performativity’ is therefore not related to a theatrical act
or staging but to acting in real life and within the framework
of a consciously shaped work of art based on interaction.
SB: Performance artist Hubert Sowa explains this challenging role of the performance artist who is deeply involved as
a person in the art piece. Sowa points out the two elements
of performance: art action (poiesis) and non-mimetic real
action (practice). Both are so interwoven with each other that
finally art dissolves into life. > Allan Kaprow also speaks of this
blur between art and life. Resonant artistic approaches as described in Michelle Browne’s New Éire or my collaborative work
A Viewing are not illusory, they are direct and real. Michelle for
example performs in authentic ways in her performative art
works, yet – as in the piece she introduces in this book – she is
acting out the perfect agent for the work’s core idea.
Sowa comments that often this type of art making lacks
the shift from the situation that is known and familiar to the
new and unexpected – the paradox. This shift could be made
through the element of surprise or humour as seen in Fiona
Larkin’s or your art projects, too. Both of you try to blend into
everyday reality with the work while also introducing a certain
degree of absurdity which gives it a twist.
AT: Chrissie Cadman presents a more traditional strand
of performance art in public space compared to the life-like
art approach, which we have discussed. But she also describes
how this acting persona is in fact a hidden, but most truthful
part of herself.
SB: In her example Chrissie describes the overall framework she needs to be able to expose herself publicly the way
she does. She considers the successful creation of this framework within a performance festival to be the result of collaboration between the organizers and herself, the artist. Teamwork prior to the piece is an essential condition.
AT: By the way, I noted that the use of terminology is not
consistent or unified within the field. Chrissie, for example,
uses the term collaboration synonymously to describe teamwork between artist and organizers. Ele Carpenter in turn
defines collaboration as a legal status characterized by ‘joint
ownership’ of the art project. As a native German speaker
I hardly use the term ‘Kollaboration’, because of its association
with the Nazi regime. Instead we agreed on the term ‘Zusammenarbeit’ in the context of this book, meaning ‘working together’. However, ‘working together’ seems to get mixed up
with cooperation in common linguistic usage. Cooperation
implies an author who has a concept and a plan, but looks for
interested and competent partners to team up with. Those
partners might be commissioned for their work or join the
project voluntarily. Francis Zeischegg presents a project consciously based on cooperation.
But let’s look at what is needed for successful collaboration in the sense of joint ownership, which is discussed in
Ele’s project.
SB: A friend of mine, a social worker in a Latin AmericanEuropean NGO, recently gave me his rationale for professional
Larkin: Fall, p. 78
Theis: Left Luggage, p. 108
Cadman: Abboutt, p. 58
http://gerhard_dirmoser.
public1.linz.at/A0/Perform_
Basis06_A0_en_last.pdf
Collaboration and cooperation
Carpenter: Open Source
Embroidery, p. 68
Zeischegg: Public Observation,
p. 140
Mackey: RIVERwork(s), p. 86
Trust building
Murphy: Tower Songs, p. 96
Conflicts
Interests and needs
26
27
collaboration. Prior to signing the contract he thoroughly checks
whether all people involved are on the same wavelength and
in agreement with the project ethics. Styles of communication
and collaboration are linked to specific forms of relationships.
Within these different kinds of relationships presented in the
artists’ projects, the reader discovers different roles, power
structures and responsibilities.
AT: Christine Mackey’s RIVERwork(s) project involved numerous experts in her local research, building long-term relationships with them. Yet she managed to keep a focus on her
own agenda without getting sidetracked by her partners.
SB: I think it is essential to invest in a trust building process
with the project’s key figures which might include all types of
people in all sorts of roles. I guess most artists have experience
of how much the entire creative participatory process depends
on other people’s good will and input. There is a need to create
a trustful relationship right from start. Most of the time this
trust has to be built between complete strangers. When looking at Ailbhe Murphy’s text we become aware of how much
she focused and what amount of time she spent on getting
other institutions, artists and locals involved. That is all part
of the relationship building process.
AT: Absolutely. But what if it turns out, that someone I am
working with is not trustworthy? Or that s/he does not support
me, the team or the art project? S/he might have other things
going on, not be reliable, withhold information, or simply
does not complete the tasks? S/he may have a hidden agenda,
which s/he wants to realize through the project? I am thinking
of the worst-case scenarios: instrumentalization, infiltration
or even boycott. How would you deal with these issues?
SB: I think it needs to be a process of ongoing analytical
awareness as much as human instincts to check if my own
needs and expectations are met and heard by the local partners.
If difficult issues arise during the project, then all sorts of
professional communication skills (for example mediation and
negotiation techniques) become key. I am sure these are skills
that artists can be trained in professionally. And they overlap
with all of our professional and private worlds. Learn to hear
what the other needs and wants, and recognize what you
need and want. Once this it done, everyone needs a shared
or common understanding of language to communicate
potential solutions.
AT: How a complex art project develops and is eventually
carried out is highly dependent on a well-considered and
successful planning and preparation phase. Here is where the
course of the actual project is determined. This corresponds
with the iceberg model: The major part of a participatory/
collaborative work takes place before the ‘opening’, when relationships are built and decisions made. This phase is usually
not very well documented, and is often not displayed or visible
to all of the many audiences of the work.
SB: The invisible process is a key characteristic of many of
the art projects described in this publication. It highlights the
difference between visible communication with the participants, and the communication that takes place behind the
scenes. It also highlights a shift in the emphasis of the artist’s
role at different stages of the project. Personally, I might be
very dominant in the preparation phase but rather hidden or
restrained in the actual art process. I generally prefer the latter
role. Jeanne van Heeswijk calls it ‘being a ghost’.
For me, the ideal image is one described by Open Space
Facilitator (OSF) Harrison Owen, the founder of Open Space
Technology (OST) 12. He describes the role of the facilitator as
fully present and totally invisible: an OSF holds space open like
trusses that keep a roof perched on top of the walls. Without
the trusses the room collapses. Without the conscious act of
holding it open, space closes. > The facilitator does as much
as necessary and as little as possible. It is all about giving
participants a safe and creative space or platform to express
and develop their interests, desires and actions.
AT: That’s a brilliant image and strategy which works well
for projects that invite people explicitly to actively participate
in it, for instance to make a real change in their community.
In other kinds of practices the artist is the linchpin and must
be highly visible as well as present. Then s/he is the source of
friction, the core element, the direct interlocutor and counterpart to the participant within the interaction. In the end it
comes down to the artist’s specific role in the particular work.
Planning
Artist’s roles and
self-conception
www.jeanneworks.net
>
www.openspaceworld.org/
cgi/wiki.cgi?OpenSpace
Explanations
>
Walters, Victoria: The Artist
as Shaman: The Work of Joseph
Beuys and Marcus Coates, in:
Schneider, Arnd and Christpher
Wright (Eds.): Between Art and
Anthropology, Berg, Oxford,
2010, pp. 35-48
Power and responsibilities
.
Zmijewski, Artur: The Applied
Social Arts, Fire Station Artist’s
Studios (Ed.), Dublin, 2010
Applied Social Arts:
www.krytykapolityczna.pl/
English/Applied-Social-Arts/
menu-id-113.html
Exhibition and catalogue:
Knast sind immer die anderen,
NGBK, Berlin, 2009
http://knast-sind-immer-die
-anderen.blogspot.de/
www.prisonexp.org
Leadership
28
29
My artistic intentions and motivations determine how
I get involved to achieve what the work needs. Whether the
transformation in and through the work of art does indeed
happen successfully depends on the artist’s consistency. >
But how safe or convenient do I feel taking on this role, especially when acting out in the public? Once defined, I have to
accept the role and stick to it throughout the project. At times
it feels very tough, especially when I do something I haven’t
done before, which is usually the case. This open ended live
process refers back to the ideas of performativity we discussed
earlier.
SB: As language in itself carries a lot of power structures,
I think what you just said is so important: an artist really has
to be clear about the role s/he decides to take on in a project
and equally be able to choose the forms of communication.
This demands competency in a range of social and facilitation
skills and tools, as we also discussed earlier. I’m aware that,
as an artist I cannot rely on my given or potential talents or
intuitions. But another issue that is concerning me is the
position of power that an artist can take.
AT: Do you perceive this position as an ethical issue? I am
.
asking because what comes to my mind is Artur Zmijewski’s
work Repetition (2005) – a documentary video recording of
the re-enactment of the Stanford Prison Experiment. Paid and
hired participants play the roles of either prisoners or guards
.
in a set-up male prison. Zmijewski is the director of the prison.
At some point in the process (and in the video) he talks to
the head guard demanding vigorous action from the guard’s
team. He pushes them to the extremes. He is deliberately manipulative, using his power position consciously to intervene
in the participants’ interaction – and not being afraid of it.
What is it you have in mind about the artist’s power position?
SB: There is a fabulous research carried out by Anne Douglas
and Chris Fremantle. They interviewed a number of artists
about their understanding of and experience with power and
leadership. It expands the traditional understanding which
usually refers to hierarchical settings, mostly in relation to
economies. In the field of participatory art a strong desire prevails for equality among the participants. The research study
considers the rift between the traditional idea of a heroic or
charismatic leader, and complex kinds of successful artistleadership qualities describing the leader as connector, organizer, revolutionary, negotiator, entrepreneur, or lover. Fellowship
is also an indispensable part of the leadership equation. >
Have you experienced being assigned as a leader, when
you wanted to work in a team of equals?
AT: Yes, I have indeed. Within the framework of the art project I often think about her grave 13 realized in Worpswede I saw
myself as the initiator, coming with an idea, finding the local
partners who wanted to participate in creating the work. We
were a team of six. Together we discussed if and how the work
could be realized, how the design and construction would be
carried out. Then the local team basically did most of the work
on site. We stayed in contact and I joined them several times
during the process.
Part of my concept and what I tried to make clear from the
outset, was that the local team, being the representatives of
the town – well-known as historical artists’ colony – were to
make and implement any decisions. However, as the artist,
I was seen as the main figure. And at a critical point in the project, local people expected me to campaign for an extension of
the work. It felt as if I had been assigned a completely different
role than the one I had chosen for myself just because I was ‘the
artist’. I wonder if I had communicated my idea insufficiently,
or if I had not behaved distinctively enough, or if it had happened because of the general expectations that people have
of artists to be visionary authors.
Apart from this misconception we have built valuable relationships and I am still in touch with some of the team. This
doesn’t necessarily happen that often. How much do you get
involved with people?
SB: I work mostly nomadic, so I don’t get the time to develop in depth relationships because I don’t live where I work.
The closest I can get is becoming something like the friend
of the family, a returning guest, as Grant Kester describes: an
artist who becomes a regularly returning member of a certain
community. > Still, this often lacks continuity. I do suffer from
this at times as I struggle to keep track of all the relationships
>
Douglas, Anne and Chris
Fremantle: Leading Through
Practice, published by Louise
Wirz/a-n, The Artists Information Company, Newcastle upon
Tyne, 2007
www.a-n.co.uk/publications/
document/347151; p. 4
and
Douglas, Anne and Chris
Fremantle: The Artist as Leader,
Research Report, 2009
www.ontheedgeresearch.org
Relationships
>
Kester, Grant H.: Conversation Pieces: Community and
Communication in Modern Art,
Berkley, 2004
>
Kwon, Miwon: The Wrong
Place, in: Doherty, Claire (Ed.):
Contemporary Art, from
Studio to Situation, Black Dog
Publishing, London, 2004, p. 41
Wunsch: Sandhandlung
(Sand Action), p. 128
Collectives
Sustainability
30
31
in different places. I have to accept that my interactions within
art practice will hardly ever reach the level of deep friendships.
But I have encountered unbelievable hospitality, openness,
generosity and a particular level of relationship and engagement that you have with people you meet for only a short
time. It is similar to these intense, and at times life changing
talks you might have with a stranger on a train. Displaced
people like me should embrace this predicament. But I do
feel that I need to look at new forms of belonging and
being-in-place. >
Apart from that, collaboration seems to develop in social
circles, where people know each other very well; they tend to
be friends, at least very friendly with each other. The relationship needs to be deeper, more continuous and reliable. As you
share passion and responsibilities, you also need to develop
the same wavelength of agreed ground rules, ethics and
emotional commitment.
AT: Sabe Wunsch’s contribution Sandhandlung reflects this
very well. The project team ttt&t worked together for several
years. They planned and realized projects as an equitable team
having shared authorship. All of the decisions were made
together in processes that weren’t always harmonious. In this
case the team members knew each other very well. Their
work as a collective impacted crucially on their individual professional and personal development. However, it is amazing
to see how quickly people, who were still strangers the day
before, can find and commit to each other connected by a
passion for something. Often something irrational, miraculous
is going on – not only through the experience one undergoes
participating in or encountering a work of art but also during
the processes before and after the actual art project.
Besides the empathy, you pointed out before, I find respect
for others is central, and this is where my responsibility lies.
People sense when they are cheated or treated contemptuously.
The success of a project is very much related to the integrity
of all involved – especially of the artist.
SB: It is difficult to evaluate and even describe the magic
moments where people commit to relationships and create
something together. It seems this is what makes evaluation
and feedback formats so difficult or rather impossible. How
do you measure the impact of such a personal and intrinsic
experience such as art?
To me the exchange with other artists on the experiences
drawn from the practice is so important. I think we try to
reflect and discuss these issues amongst ourselves to find out
what works, what is do-able and good practice.
AT and SB: Dear Reader,
In this publication ten artists make their work transparent
reflecting and explaining what they actually do when they are
practicing in communication with others. We hope that this
contributes not only to the current discourse but by supporting each other in the attempt to understand and enhance all
of our work.
The dialogue gives you a first sense of how the book is laid
out as a toolbox that can be completed by the reader themselves. In the text, graphics point towards further information
for self-study like links to websites or references to books,
which you find in the side column. Here, you also find underlined keywords pointing out main aspect addressed in this
section. The statements we consider to be relevant are highlighted.
All artists’ contributions include an artist statement, a
project description and an exploration of the work in relation
to the given brief. However, space within this publication is
precious and not everything that needs to be said can be included, but if you would like to contact one of the artists to
deepen the dialogue, please do so! You will find their contact
details in the side column of the artist statement.
Designers Paul Kelly, Frank Doering and Theo Hilgers did
a wonderful job to visualize the concept of the book.
We would like to thank all the artists for their valuable
contributions. The diversity of practises introduced here makes
Belfiore, Eleonora and Oliver
Bennett: The Social Impact of
the Arts: An Intellectual History,
Palgrave/Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2008
Feedback
palpable the complexity of the approaches that need to be
considered to develop an authentic and successful artistic
language.
The book benefited from generous and competent support throughout the editing process: Michelle Browne, Ele
Carpenter, Julian Earwaker, Lisa Glauer, Fiona Larkin, Grainne
Loughran, Kerstin Mey, Pia Ritter, and Martin Simmonds, to all
of whom we would like to express our deepest gratitude.
We hope you will enjoy the book, discovering the many
layers of art practice, be inspired and take useful ideas into
your own life and work!
Andrea and Susanne, January 2012, Belfast
The Summer School on Communication and Interaction through Art in Public
Spaces took place from 14th to 17 th September 2007 with 14 participants from
Germany, Ireland and Northern Ireland, four facilitators (Francis Zeischegg, Berlin;
Ele Carpenter, London; Ailbhe Murphy, Dublin; Susanne Bosch, Belfast/Berlin)
and four guest speakers (Ursula Burke, Martin Carter, Lesley Cherry, Mike Hogg
and Philip Napier). It offered a three-day programme with a studio visit and two
evening lectures. The event took place in Catalyst Arts, Belfast.
1
2
Richard Serra: Tilted Arc (1981-1989), a 120-foot curved Cor-Ten steel sculpture
commissioned for the Federal Plaza in New York City
Read more: Weyergraf-Serra, Clara and Martha Buskirk (Eds.): The Destruction of
‘Tilted Arc’: Documents. Introduction by Richard Serra, MIT Press, Cambridge/MA,
1990
3
Agora was an open space in ancient Greek cities that served as a meeting ground
for various activities of the citizens.
See: www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9404/agora
The field of social sculpture derives in part from the work of Joseph Beuys, who
proposed and stressed the need for an expanded conception of art in which every
human being – in their inherent freedom, creativity and transformative power –
is potentially an artist. >
>
See: www.social-sculpture.org/the-territory.htm
4
32
33
5
Christoph Schlingensief: Bitte liebt Österreich – Erste österreichische Koalitionswoche
(Please Love Austria – First Austrian Coalition Week), alternately named Ausländer
raus! Schlingensiefs Container (Foreigners out! Schlingensief’s Container), Vienna,
9th - 16th June 2000. Twelve participants introduced by Schlingensief as asylumseekers spent one week in a cordoned-off, CCTVed shipping container complex in the
centre of Vienna. Austrian population and TV audience were asked to phone in and
vote out the container inhabitants. The reality TV event refers to both Big Brother TV
and the populist, right-wing trend in Austrian politics at that time. >
>
www.schlingensief.com/index_eng.html
See: Lilienthal, Matthias and Claus Philipp (Eds.): Schlingensiefs Ausländer raus,
Dokumentation, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/Main, 2000
6
Andrea was Assistant Professor to the MFA Programme Public Art and New Artistic
Strategies at the Bauhaus-University Weimar (Germany), 2007-2009.
See: www.uni-weimar.de/mfa
7
The seven-day Cross-cultural Competence Training was facilitated in four blocks
over two terms by Valborg Edert, Potsdam and Jamie Walker, Berlin.
www.peaceresources.net/members.html and www.jamiewalker.net
8
Non-violent communication involves both communication skills that foster compassionate relating and consciousness of the interdependence of our well being
and using power with others to work together to meet the needs of all concerned.
See: www.cnvc.org/Training/NVC-Concepts; Rosenberg, Marshall B.: Nonviolent
Communication: A Language of Life, 2nd edition, PuddleDancer Press, Encinitas/CA,
2003; www.nonviolentcommunication.com and www.schulz-von-thun.de
9
Susanne is a joint Course Director of the MA Art in Public together with
Dan Shipsides at the University of Ulster, Belfast.
See: http://masterartinpublic.wordpress.com
In his study on the consistency of oral messages published in 1971 psychologist
Albert Mehrabian discovered that in 7% of the cases, the words were good indicators of a message regarding disliking or liking something. In 38% of cases the
tone of voice was the indicator, and in 55%, it was body language. The study cannot
be applied directly to other speech acts, like public speaking, but allows conclusions
to be drawn about the influencing elements and their shares.
10
11
In her publication Giving an Account of Oneself (New York, 2005) Judith Butler
explores the limits of self-knowledge of the human being in relation to a community. She develops an ethics in which the responsible self knows the limits of its
knowing, recognizes and respects the limits of capacity to give an account of itself
to others. Her understanding of performativity includes questions of gender.
12
Open Space Technology is a process for facilitating complex meetings. It is peoplecentred and result-orientated. Participants in Open Space meetings are empowered
by being made responsible for their own interests, desires and actions. Based on
the philosophy of self-organizing systems, OST invests in the concept that people
do best when they represent themselves.
For more see: www.openspaceworld.org
Andrea Theis: Ich denke oftmals an ihr Grab (I often think about her grave), Worpswede, 2007-2008, temporal memorial for painter Paula Modersohn-Becker on the
Worpswede churchyard following her diary note written five years prior to her early
death in 1907.
See: www.katharinahohmann.de/seiten/kurator/kurator8.htm and
www.paula-in-worpswede.de
13
H
C
OS
B
E
N
N
A
US
S
Susanne Bosch is an artist and lecturer.
Since 2007 she has been joint Course Director
together with Dan Shipsides for the MA-Programme Art in Public at the University of
Ulster in Belfast. She has studied art at the
Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg. Furthermore, she is trained as Open Space facilitator (2008) and in Non-Violent-ConflictTransformation (2004).
Susanne works internationally on exhibitions and projects in public space, e.g. she
was involved with art-based research/researchbased art including residencies in Ramallah,
Palestine (2010/11), Madrid Abierto 2009/2010,
Berlin/Istanbul (2009, exhibitions in Berlin
and Istanbul), The Pre-History of Crisis (II),
Project Arts Centre Dublin and Belfast
Exposed (2009), THE COMMON GOOD: The
Enterprise of Art, PAN | palazzo arti napoli,
Naples, Italy (2008).
She is co-editor and editor of numerous
publications, the most recent one being
STATE (2011) edited collaboratively with the
artist Anthony Haughey, Dublin (published
by Project Arts Centre Dublin). In addition to
art projects, she regularly conducts courses
and Open Space Workshops both locally and
internationally, including Mexico City (2010),
Limerick, Galway, Hilltown, Belfast and Glencree (all in 2011). She is currently living in
Belfast (Northern Ireland) and Berlin.
34
35
Susanne Bosch ist Künstlerin und Lehrende. Seit 2007 leitet sie gemeinsam mit
Dan Shipsides das MA-Programm Art in
Public an der University of Ulster in Belfast.
Sie studierte Kunst an der Akademie der
Bildenden Künste Nürnberg. Zudem ist sie
ausgebildet als Open-Space-Begleiterin
(2008) und Konflikttransformatorin (2004).
Susanne ist international an Ausstellungen und Projekten im öffentlichen Raum
beteiligt, u. a. bei art-based research/researchbased art mit Aufenthalten in Ramallah, Palästina (2010/11), Madrid Abierto 2009/2010,
Berlin/Istanbul (2009, mit Ausstellungen in
Berlin und Istanbul), The Pre-History of Crisis
(II), Project Arts Centre Dublin und Belfast
Exposed (2009), THE COMMON GOOD: The
Enterprise of Art, PAN | palazzo arti napoli,
Neapel, Italien (2008).
Sie hat zahlreiche Publikationen veröffentlicht, zuletzt STATE (2011) zusammen mit
dem Künstler Anthony Haughey, Dublin.
(Herausgeber: Project Arts Centre Dublin).
Neben den Kunstprojekten gibt sie regelmäßig Kurse und Open-Space-Workshops
im In- und Ausland, zuletzt in Mexico-City
(2010), Limerick, Galway, Belfast, Hilltown
und Glencree (alle 2011). Sie lebt derzeit in
Belfast (Nordirland) und Berlin.
Susanne Bosch
Being an artist and lecturer I work predominantly in public
and on long-term questions, which tackle creative arguments
around the ideas of democracy. Recurring themes in my practice are surviving, money and work, as well as migration, societal visions and participation models. I work collaboratively and
individually. I formally use site- and situation-specific interventions, installations, video, audio and drawing. In addition, I use
dialogical formats and methods such as writing, speaking and
listening as well as workshops, seminars and Open Space conferences. Creative forms of communication are an important
part of my work.
Susanne Bosch
Als Künstlerin und Kunstlehrende arbeite ich überwiegend
im öffentlichen Raum und an Langzeitprojekten, die sich kreativ mit dem Demokratiebegriff auseinandersetzen. Die Themenschwerpunkte sind Überleben, Geld und Arbeit, sowie Migration, gesellschaftliche Visionen und Beteiligungsmodelle. Ich
arbeite sowohl kollektiv als auch individuell. Formal benutze
ich orts- und situationsspezifische Interventionen, Installationen, Video, Audio und Zeichnung, aber auch dialogische Arbeiten und Formate wie Schreiben, Sprechen, Zuhören, sowie
Workshops, Seminare und Open-Space-Konferenzen. Kreative
Formen der Kommunikation sind ein wichtiger Bestandteil
meiner Arbeit.
www.susannebosch.de
http://masterartinpublic.
wordpress.com
www.interface.ulster.ac.uk
www.susannebosch.de
http://masterartinpublic.
wordpress.com
A Viewing, property research,
Agency preparation for
intervention, 20/08/2007
© Sandra Johnston
A Viewing, Agency in discussion
during preparation,
20/08/2007
© Sandra Johnston
A Viewing, day 2, tour 2,
Lourdes Road, Rialto,
23/08/2007
© Susanne Bosch
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37
Agency: A Viewing
The collaborative Dimension of Agency
Today it is no longer (only) a dissatisfaction and a revolutionary pretension that lead to working collectively, but also the
opportunities that have been provided through this, to realize
extended experiential spaces – and this by all means also with
a socio-political claim. >
Agency 1 does not have a manifesto nor is it a fixed group
of people. Rather, it creates the possibility to work temporarily
and collectively with new people, to experience a synthesis of
art and life during this period, to experience an intensive exchange, to be prepared to overcome the limits of one’s own individual artistic action and to artistically express this interest
in others and the situation. To date, events have taken place
with or without public aesthetic manifestations. 2
>
Nollert, Angelika: Art is life
and life is art, in: Block, René
and Angelika Nollert (Eds.):
Collective Creativity/Kollektive
Kreativität, Revolver, Berlin,
2006, p. 23
Collaboration
Agency: A Viewing (Eine Besichtigung)
Die kollaborative Dimension von Agency
Es sind heute nicht mehr (allein) eine Unzufriedenheit und
ein revolutionärer Anspruch, die zum kollektiven Arbeiten führen, sondern die dadurch bereitgestellte Möglichkeit, erweiterte
Erfahrungsräume zu realisieren – und dies durchaus auch mit
gesellschaftspolitischem Anspruch. >
Agency 1 steht weder für ein eindeutiges Manifest noch für
eine feste Gruppe von Menschen. Es ist vielmehr die Möglichkeit, temporär und kollektiv mit immer wieder anderen Menschen zu arbeiten und für diese Zeit eine Synthese von Kunst
und Leben zu erfahren, einen intensiven Austausch zu erleben,
risikobereit die Grenzen des individuellen künstlerischen Handelns zu überwinden und dem Interesse am Gegenüber und
an der Situation einen künstlerischen Ausdruck zu verleihen.
Es gab Arbeitsprozesse mit und ohne öffentliche, ästhetische
Manifestationen. 2
>
Nollert, Angelika: Kunst ist
Leben und Leben ist Kunst,
in: Block, René und Angelika
Nollert (Hrsg.): Kollektive
Kreativität/Collective Creativity,
Revolver, Berlin, 2006, S. 23
Zusammenarbeit
A Viewing, day 1, interior of
flat, Lourdes Road, Rialto
22/08/2007
© Sandra Johnston
A Viewing, discussion, image
collage, Fatima Community
Building, 22/08/2007
© Susanne Bosch
A Viewing, day 2, participant in
conversation with real estate
agent, The Malthouse, Rialto,
23/08/2007
© Marilyn Arsem
38
39
Agency began in 2006. It developed as a by-product of discussions in Belfast with the artists Sandra Johnston, Marilyn
Arsem (both performance) and myself (interventions in public
space).
At the beginning we each had a curiosity about our different art practices. All three of us shared experiences of teaching, the connection to mediated discourse as well as organizing and curating events. We come from different contexts
(Marilyn lives in Boston, Sandra comes from Belfast, and I am
from Berlin). We are all aware of the power of collective, female
support. This cooperation is consolidated by the willingness to
unite private matters and work, to be open emotionally, and
to share thoughts, mental states and feelings.
A first meeting became possible in Belfast in the spring
of 2007. Alma Suljevic, an artist from Sarajevo, Marilyn, Sandra
and I formed the group. We planned to spend a week exchanging experiences with contested space and our artistic way of
Agency nahm seinen Anfang 2006 in Belfast. Es entwickelte sich als zufälliges Produkt aus Diskussionen mit den Künstlerkolleginnen Sandra Johnston, Marilyn Arsem (beide Performance) und mir (Interventionen im öffentlichen Raum). Am
Anfang standen Interesse und Neugier für unsere jeweils unterschiedliche Kunstpraxis. Uns dreien gemein waren die Lehrtätigkeit, die Anbindung an einen vermittelnden Diskurs sowie
das Organisieren und Kuratieren von Veranstaltungen. Wir kommen aus unterschiedlichen Kontexten (Marilyn lebt in Boston,
Sandra kommt aus Belfast, ich aus Berlin). Wir kennen alle das
Potenzial einer kollektiven Zusammenarbeit von Frauen. Die
Bereitschaft, Privates und Arbeit zu vereinen, sich emotional
dabei zu öffnen, Gedanken, Befindlichkeiten sowie Gefühle zu
teilen, machen dieses Zusammenarbeiten aus.
Ein erstes Arbeitstreffen wurde möglich im Frühjahr 2007
in Belfast. Alma Suljevic , Künstlerin aus Sarajevo, Marilyn,
Sandra und ich bildeten das Kollektiv. Wir wollten uns für eine
Woche gemeinsam austauschen über die Erfahrung mit umkämpftem Raum und unserem künstlerischen Umgang damit.
www.thethirdspacegallery.
com/johnston.html
www.marilynarsem.net
www.kukgalerie.de/ALMA%20
SULJEVIC_CV.htm
www.thethirdspacegallery.
com/johnston.html
www.marilynarsem.net
www.kukgalerie.de/ALMA%20
SULJEVIC_CV.htm
A Viewing, day 1, interior of
flat, Lourdes Road, Rialto
22/08/2007
© Sandra Johnston
A Viewing, property research
Agency preparation for intervention, 20/08/2007
© Marilyn Arsem
40
41
dealing with it. We called this meeting and event Appropriate 3.
We invited each other to take part in a daily action in the respective artistic approach of the others: encounter sites, write,
invent stories, remain in silence and draw.
My exercise was tied to my personal situation: as a newcomer to Belfast, I was searching for a new home. I was wondering if it was possible for an outsider to find a home in a city with
80 (peace)walls and neighbourhoods strictly separated according to affiliation where strong tensions still exist. One morning
I invited Alma, Marilyn and Sandra to look at houses with me
in north Belfast that were for sale and appeared affordable.
I was interested to get their impressions and was happy to have
them with me for two meetings with estate agents.
As a result of this exercise an intensive discussion developed
about the meaning of home, possession of property, the aesthetic concept of well-being and security, and the memory of
space, a desire and a psychological meaning of home.
Wir nannten dieses Treffen und den Event Appropriate 3. Wir
luden uns täglich gegenseitig ein, an der jeweiligen künstlerischen Vorgehensweise der Anderen teilzunehmen: Orte begehen, schreiben, Geschichten erfinden, schweigen, zeichnen.
Meine Übung war verbunden mit meiner persönlichen
Situation: Als Neuankömmling in Belfast war ich auf der Suche
nach einer neuen Bleibe. Ich fragte mich, ob es für Außenstehende überhaupt möglich war, in einer Stadt mit achtzig
(Peace-)Walls, streng nach Zugehörigkeit getrennten Stadtvierteln und mit immer noch starken Spannungen ein Zuhause
zu finden. Ich lud Alma, Marilyn und Sandra ein, einen Vormittag lang mit mir Häuser in Nordbelfast anzuschauen, die in
einer mittleren Preisklasse zum Verkauf angeboten wurden.
Ich war ernsthaft an ihren Eindrücken interessiert und froh,
sie bei zwei Treffen mit Maklern dabei zu haben.
Aus dieser Übung entwickelte sich ein intensives Gespräch
über die Bedeutung von einem Zuhause, von Eigenheim und
Immobilienbesitz, über ein ästhetisches Verständnis von Wohlgefühl und Sicherheit, die Erinnerung an Raum, über die Sehn-
For all of us, our physical presence in the homes of strangers in Belfast felt very intimate. We read the stories of the objects, spaces, smells, broken doors and mirrors, front gardens
and the streets as well as the neighbours behind the curtains
during the few brief minutes of our visit.
The experience in Belfast was the starting point for a collective work in Dublin.
A Viewing in Rialto, Dublin 2007
>
Block, René and Angelika
Nollert (Eds.): Collective
Creativity, Revolver, Berlin,
2006, p. 11
These physical, but also symbolic, intellectual and political
‘side shows’ that are produced through collective effort, strive
for the building of an open, free space, a playing and design
field, but also for a territory for social conflicts and discussions. >
Ireland has a strong culture for owning property. 4 Possession of land is connected to the idea of both the right to and
the security of owning a home. This stance mirrors the deep
traumatic experience of the colonialist history of Ireland and
sucht nach einem Zuhause, und dessen psychologischer Bedeutung.
Für uns alle war unsere physische Anwesenheit in dem Zuhause fremder Leute in Belfast sehr intim. Wir interpretierten
die Dinge, Räume, Gerüche, die zerhauenen Türen und Spiegel,
die Vorgärten und Straßenzüge und auch die Blicke der Nachbarn hinter den Gardinen durch die Geschichten, die sie uns in
den wenigen Minuten des Besuches erzählten.
Diese Erfahrung in Belfast wurde der Ausgangspunkt für
eine gemeinsame Arbeit in Dublin und einen Katalogbeitrag
im selben Jahr.
A Viewing (Eine Besichtigung) in Rialto, Dublin (2007)
>
Block, René und Angelika
Nollert (Hrsg.): Kollektive
Kreativität, Revolver, Berlin,
2006, S. 11
42
43
Diese physischen, aber auch symbolischen, intellektuellen
und politischen „Neben-Felder“, die durch kollektive Anstrengungen geschaffen werden, bemühen sich um den Aufbau
eines offenen, freien Raumes, eines Spiel- und Gestaltungsraumes, aber auch um ein Territorium für soziale Konflikte
und Auseinandersetzungen. >
its dramatic consequences for the Irish population here and
today.
In 2007, OUT OF SITE in Dublin invited Sandra, Marilyn and
myself as Agency. We now wanted to engage the public in the
work we had developed in Belfast. This new project in Dublin
should encompass all of our processes, creating a synergy for
our different art practices and involving the public as partners.
We wanted to share an experience together with them. We
decided to develop the dialogue that had emerged in Belfast
about home and property, and transform it into an intervention in Dublin. OUT OF SITE suggested the location of Rialto 5,
an urban neighbourhood.
Like our first encounter in Belfast, we experienced intensive days of research onsite and planning meetings, where
life and work became one. The predetermined time together
appeared so limited that we used every minute for an intensive exchange. We had no shared artistic practice, but every
www.outofsite.info
Collaboration
Irland hat eine Kultur des Eigentums von Haus und Grund. 4
Landbesitz ist hier verbunden mit dem Recht und der Gewissheit auf ein Zuhause. Diese Haltung spiegelt die tiefe Traumatisierung durch die Kolonialgeschichte und deren Folgen für
die irische Bevölkerung hier und heute wider.
2007 waren wir mit Agency – in der Besetzung Marilyn,
Sandra und ich – zu OUT OF SITE in Dublin eingeladen. Was in
Belfast noch unser eigenes Erleben ohne Publikum geblieben
war, wollten wir nun unter Einbeziehung der Öffentlichkeit
durchführen. Die Arbeit sollte unserem Prozess entsprechen,
das heißt eine Synergie unserer unterschiedlichen Kunstpraxen sein, das Publikum dabei als Partner einbindend. Wir
wollten ein gemeinsames Erlebnis. Wir entschieden uns, den
in Belfast begonnenen Dialog über Heim und Eigentum aufzugreifen und in Dublin mit einer Intervention umzusetzen.
OUT OF SITE gab uns Rialto 5 als Stadtteil vor.
Ähnlich wie in der ersten Begegnung in Belfast durchlebten wir als Gruppe intensive Tage mit Recherche vor Ort und
Planungsmeetings. Leben und Arbeit war eins. Die vorgege-
www.outofsite.info
Zusammenarbeit
one of us had a strong reputation as an individual artist. We
were under considerable pressure to develop a work behind
which all three of us could stand together. In the course of
these few days, we simulated numerous possibilities. Some we
abandoned, others were not feasible.
We were so intensively preoccupied with our project that
we operated as an isolated cell within the greater framework
of OUT OF SITE. 6 With and without the pressure of an artistic
outcome, the intensity and the physical closeness, triggered
tense, vivacious internal social processes within Agency. Each
of us has her own established way of dealing with the world.
We were extremely professional in dealing with participants
and in the preparation of the intervention. We were able to set
our processes to one side. In semi-professional situations our
own dynamic would dominate. Our agreement, to engage intensively with each other in a very short period of time, did not
leave much scope for others. Our attention was on our own
bene gemeinsame Zeit schien so limitiert, dass wir jede Minute
in einem intensiven Austausch verbrachten. Wir hatten keine
gemeinsame künstlerische Praxis, aber jede einen Ruf als individuelle Künstlerin. Wir standen unter dem Druck, gemeinsam
in kurzer Zeit eine ortsspezifische Arbeit zu entwickeln, von der
jede von uns überzeugt war. Im Verlauf dieser wenigen Tage
spielten wir etliche Möglichkeiten durch. Manche ließen wir
fallen, andere waren nicht durchführbar.
Wir waren so intensiv mit unserem Vorhaben beschäftigt,
dass wir im größeren Rahmen von OUT OF SITE 6 wie eine autonome Zelle operierten. Ob mit oder ohne Produktionsdruck, die
Intensität und die räumliche Nähe brachten gruppeninterne
soziale Prozesse bei Agency in Gang, die temperamentvoll
waren. Jede von uns hat ihren eigenen Mechanismus, mit der
Welt zu interagieren und ist darin sehr ausgeprägt. Wir waren
sehr professionell im Umgang mit den Teilnehmenden und in
den Vorbereitungen der Intervention. Hier konnten wir unsere
internen Prozesse komplett zurückstellen. In semiprofessionellen Situationen nahm unsere interne Dynamik oft überhand.
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45
dynamic. Our discourses were accordingly honest, rigorous,
existential and rapidly beyond polite exchange. A quality, which
one would usually experience with family or with close friends.
In my mind that was very productive for the clarification of the
work ethos and role definitions. Over time, my experience has
taught me that such a participant-engaging collective work
realized in a limited timeframe demands so much attention
and care that additional social settings such as a shared living
situation and group dynamics – aside from the work – are beyond my capabilities to be omnipresent.
The work
On 22nd and 23rd August 2007 six tours took place with volunteers, interested participants and estate agents in Rialto.
Sandra, Marilyn and I divided the participants into three groups.
Each of us took a group of two to eight participants to view a
property for sale in Rialto belonging to people we did not know.
Die Vereinbarung, sich für begrenzte Zeit intensiv miteinander
zu beschäftigen, ließ nicht mehr viel Raum für Andere zu. Unser
Fokus lag dann auf der internen Dynamik. Unsere Auseinandersetzungen waren entsprechend ehrlich, rigoros, existentiell
und schnell jenseits höflicher Umgangsformen. Eine Qualität,
die ich sonst eher mit Familienmitgliedern oder engen FreundInnen erlebe. Für die Klärung von Rollenverständnissen und
Arbeitsansätzen jedoch war das in meinen Augen sehr produktiv. Meine Erfahrungen haben mich im Laufe der Zeit gelehrt,
dass solch eine partizipative, kollektive Arbeit, die in einem begrenzten Zeitrahmen stattfindet, soviel Aufmerksamkeit und
Sorgfalt verlangt, dass eine zusätzliche soziale Situation – neben
dem Arbeitssetting – wie eine gemeinsame Unterkunft mit
der entsprechenden lebendigen Gruppendynamik, über meine
Fähigkeiten hinaus gehen, allgegenwärtig aufmerksam zu sein.
Die Arbeit
Am 22. und 23. August 2007 fanden sechs Führungen mit
freiwilligen, interessierten TeilnehmerInnen und je einem/einer
Participation
Partizipation
46
47
Again we heard stories from estate agents about the apartments, houses and about the area. We perceived the objects,
the interior design of the homes, the gardens and smells. Some
of our participants used the toilets or opened the refrigerator.
We asked questions and took photos. The tours lasted about
25 minutes, and the walk from the meeting point to the viewing lasted about ten minutes.
After the tours, we spent some time together in a local cultural centre to exchange our experiences over soup and tea
and reflect on our own individual desires, thoughts and memories of a home. Questions arose: Can I imagine making one of
these properties my home? What images of home do I carry
within myself? Is it financially possible for me to live in DublinRialto? We tried to examine these personal experiences in relation to the site-specific experience. Who performed here, the
estate agent or we, the group? What did I experience aesthetically in this space? How did I move around in it? What have
ImmobilienmaklerIn in Rialto statt. Sandra, Marilyn und ich
teilten die TeilnehmerInnen in drei Gruppen auf. Jede von uns
besichtigte mit einer Kleingruppe aus zwei bis acht Personen
eine zum Verkauf stehende Immobilie von uns unbekannten
Besitzern. Wieder hörten wir die Geschichten der MaklerInnen
über das Haus oder Appartement und über die Gegend. Wir
nahmen die Gegenstände, die Gestaltung der Räume, die Gerüche und Gärten wahr. Manche unserer TeilnehmerInnen benutzten die Toilette oder öffneten den Kühlschrank. Wir stellten
Fragen und machten Fotos. Die Maklertouren dauerten im
Schnitt 25 Minuten, der Fußweg vom Treffpunkt zum Objekt
etwa zehn Minuten.
Nach den Begehungen trafen sich die drei Gruppen im lokalen Kulturzentrum, um bei Suppe und Tee das Erlebte auszutauschen und Bezüge zu den eigenen, persönlichen Wünschen, Gedanken und Erinnerungen an ein Zuhause herzustellen. Daraus ergaben sich Fragen: Kann ich mir vorstellen, eines
dieser Objekte zu meinem Zuhause zu machen? Was für Bilder
von einem Zuhause trage ich in mir? Wäre es mir finanziell
I experienced and shared with this group which is unknown
to me?
We set a huge table and ate together to create a pleasant
atmosphere for such a personal conversation. Everyone had
seen and experienced something, so the conversation started
immediately. While having our tea, Sandra, Marilyn and I initiated and moderated a 45-minute conversation stimulated
by questions. We listened carefully and ensured equal talking
time for everybody. We then invited everyone to use to the
postcards which we had provided for their impressions and
after-thoughts which they could either fill out right away or
post back to us, which some of them did. In this conversational
format we were able to refer back to our experiences as lecturers and facilitators in seminars and workshops.
Transparency was a difficult theme. We wanted to witness
the estate agents in their genuine work environment and decided not to inform them, that these viewings were part of an
möglich, in Dublin-Rialto zu leben? Diese sehr persönlichen Vorstellungen versuchten wir zu dem ortsspezifischen Erlebnis in
Bezug zu setzten. Wer hat hier performt – der Makler oder wir,
die Gruppe? Was habe ich ästhetisch in diesem Raum erlebt?
Wie habe ich mich in ihm bewegt? Was habe ich mit dieser mir
unbekannten Gruppe erlebt und geteilt?
Um einen solchen, mitunter sehr persönlichen Austausch
angenehm zu gestalten, hatten wir einen großen Tisch gedeckt und zunächst gemeinsam gegessen. JedeR hatte etwas
gesehen und erlebt. Die Unterhaltung startete sofort unmoderiert und lebhaft. Beim anschließenden Tee übernahmen
Sandra, Marilyn und ich die Moderation und initiierten durch
unsere Fragestellungen eine etwa 45-minütige, große Gesprächsrunde. Wir hörten zu und achteten darauf, dass sich
die Redeanteile die Waage hielten. Wir luden außerdem alle
ein, unsere Postkarten zu nutzen, um Eindrücke und Nachgedanken entweder gleich festzuhalten oder uns später per Post
zu senden, was einige taten. In dieser Gesprächssituation
konnten wir auf unsere Erfahrungen zurückgreifen, die wir beim
Feedback
Feedback
artistic intervention. Prior to the viewing we allocated a certain
role to the group by asking our participants to present themselves as our friends, accompanying us in viewing and evaluating the property and location. This was how we introduced the
group to the estate agents, which they accepted.
Some participants knew about the intervention through
media and PR for the festival. We did not know these participants. Others were artist colleagues and friends. They were
personally invited. The group composition was a mix of participants who were more and less familiar with this kind of art
practice.
This work cannot be clearly defined as performance or public intervention. Our main objective was to enter an existing
performative day-to-day situation: a real estate agent makes
access to other people’s homes possible and presents a narrative about site and situation in the aspiration that this will
lead to the sale of the property. It was our goal, to observe
Leiten von Gruppen in Seminaren und Workshops gesammelt
hatten.
Transparenz war ein schwieriges Thema. Wir wollten die
MaklerInnen in ihrer authentischen Alltagsperformance erleben und entschieden uns, ihnen nicht mitzuteilen, dass die
Besichtigung eine künstlerische Intervention war. Wir gaben
der Gruppe eine Rollenzuschreibung, indem wir die TeilnehmerInnen vorab baten, sich als unsere FreundInnen auszugeben, die uns zur Besichtigung begleiteten, um Immobilie und
Situation für uns mit zu begutachten. Auf diese Weise stellten
wir den MaklerInnen die Gruppe vor, was diese akzeptierten.
Unter unseren TeilnehmerInnen waren einige Menschen,
die von dem Event durch die Werbung für das Festival gehört
hatten. Sie waren uns unbekannt. Andere waren KünstlerkollegInnen oder der Kunst und uns nahe stehende Bekannte.
Sie hatten wir gezielt eingeladen. Die Gruppe setzte sich also
zusammen aus Leuten, die einmal mehr, einmal weniger mit
dieser Art der Kunstpraxis vertraut war.
Die beschriebene Arbeit ist nicht eindeutig einzuordnen
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49
the viewing performance as thoroughly as possible and to exchange our observations in a joint conversation while adapting this to our own individual ideas about home, security and
the location that one is willing to pay for.
We took photographs during the six interventions for documentation purposes. We did not employ an external photographer. The existing documentation can only provide a rudimentary reflection of the experience. We asked our participants to leave or send us postcards with their impressions and
thoughts. These, alongside a collectively written and published
essay, not only reflect the experience, but also give it a new
context.
als Performance oder als öffentliche Intervention. Unser Hauptanliegen war das Eintreten in eine bestehende, performative
Alltagssituation: Ein Makler ermöglicht uns den Zutritt in das
Zuhause anderer Menschen und präsentiert ein Narrativ über
Ort und Situation in der Hoffnung, dass dies zum Verkauf des
Objektes führt. Ziel war es, die Besichtigungsperformance so
genau wie möglich zu beobachten, und in einem gemeinsamen Gespräch dann unsere Wahrnehmung abzugleichen mit
dem individuellen Verständnis von Heim und Heimat, Sicherheit und einem Ort, den man bereit ist, teuer zu kaufen.
Wir haben die drei Interventionen/Besichtigungen als Teilnehmende fotografisch dokumentiert. Wir hatten keine zusätzlichen Fotografen engagiert. Die entstandene Dokumentation reflektiert die Erfahrung allerdings nur sehr rudimentär.
Wir baten die TeilnehmerInnen, uns Postkarten mit ihren Eindrücken und Gedanken zu senden oder zu hinterlassen. Diese
sind neben dem gemeinsam geschriebenen und veröffentlichten Text bislang die Formen, die das Erlebnis nicht nur
reflektieren, sondern auch in einen anderen Kontext bringen.
Driver, Chérie and Agency: A
Viewing, in: des/IRE, Designing
Houses for Contemporary
Ireland, Gandon Editions/
National Sculpture Factory,
Cork, 2008, pp. 132-141
Driver, Chérie and Agency: A
Viewing, in: des/IRE, Designing
Houses for Contemporary
Ireland, Gandon Editions/
National Sculpture Factory,
Cork, 2008, S. 132-141
1
‘Agency’ has various definitions and meanings, e.g. an office, which mediates interests for its customers. In addition, it means ‘the state of being in action or executing
power’.
See: www.thefreedictionary.com/agency;
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
2
In 2008 Agency got invited to an Artist in Residence and spent a week in BerlinGropiusstadt (see: www.pilotprojekt-gropiusstadt.de). In 2009 we realized a billboard project in Berlin-Mitte as response to the residency. The participants were
Chérie Driver, Sandra Johnston and Susanne Bosch.
www.susannebosch.de
3
Appropriate was made possible through a Visiting Arts Grant (Henry Moore Foundation/Arts Council Northern Ireland/Scottish Arts Council/British Council) for Alma
and Susanne and an Interface grant for Marilyn and Sandra.
See: www.visitingarts.org.uk and http://interface.ulster.ac.uk ;
more about Appropriate under www.susannebosch.de
To date, Ireland has a real estate culture of owners. Only the ‘mad, bad and sad’ rent
out a home, besides the students.
See: www.architecturefoundation.ie
4
Rialto lies in the southwestern part of Dublin’s inner city and was developed in 1949
with the erection of public housing. The urban quarter has a history of poverty, drug
dealing, and social neglect. Since the 1990s, the place has slowly been transforming
5
„Agency“ heißt übersetzt „Agentur.“ Eine von vielen Definitionen dieses Begriffs
lautet: „Büro, das Vermittlungsdienstleistungen erbringt oder die Interessenvertretung für seine Kunden übernimmt“ (vgl. http://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Agentur).
Im Englischen kann ‘agency’ aber auch bedeuten, dass man in Aktion ist oder Macht
ausübt (‘the state of being in action or exerting power’, vgl. http://wordnetweb.
princeton.edu/perl/webwn)
1
2
2008 wurde Agency zu einer Künstlerresidenz nach Berlin eingeladen und
lebte eine Woche im Appartement des Pilotprojekts Gropiusstadt (vgl. www.
pilotprojekt-gropiusstadt.de). 2009 realisierten wir eine Plakatwandaktion in
Berlin-Mitte als Resonanz auf diese Woche. Die Teilnehmerinnen waren Chérie
Driver, Sandra Johnston und Susanne Bosch.
www.susannebosch.de
3
Appropriate (dt.: angemessen) wurde ermöglicht durch ein Visiting Arts Grant
(Henry Moore Foundation/Arts Council Northern Ireland/Scottish Arts Council/
British Council) für Alma und Susanne und durch eine Interface-Förderung für
Marilyn und Sandra.
Vgl. www.visitingarts.org.uk; http://interface.ulster.ac.uk
Mehr über Appropriate unter www.susannebosch.de
Auf der gesamten irischen Insel leben nur Studierende und die „mad, bad and sad“
(die Verrückten, die Bösen und die Traurigen) zur Miete. Es dominiert das Prinzip des
Eigenheims.
Siehe: www.architecturefoundation.ie
4
Rialto liegt im Südwesten der Dubliner Innenstadt und wurde 1949 als soziales
Wohnungsbauprojekt errichtet. Der Stadtteil hat seitdem eine Geschichte geprägt
5
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itself: apartment blocks with apartments for home owners have been constructed,
alongside strong neighbourhood initiatives which maintain the old neighbourhood.
See: www.fatimagroupsunited.com
6
During the OUT OF SITE Festival, twelve artists lived together in the terrace house
of the curator Michelle Browne, ate, discussed and partied together, shared rooms
and even beds.
von Armut, Drogenhandel und sozialer Verwahrlosung hinter sich. Seit den 1990ern
verwandelt sich der Ort langsam: Appartementhäuser mit Eigentumswohnungen
werden gebaut, und gleichzeitig gibt es starke Nachbarschaftsinitiativen für den
Erhalt des alten Stadtteils. Mehr unter www.fatimagroupsunited.com
Während des OUT OF SITE-Festivals lebten zwölf KünstlerInnen auf engstem Raum
im Haus von Kuratorin Michelle Browne; aßen diskutierten und feierten zusammen,
teilten sich mitunter Zimmer und Betten.
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Michelle Browne is a visual artist based
in Dublin, Ireland. She has a BA in Fine Art
Sculpture and History of Art from the National
College of Art and Design, Dublin and a Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Administration from
University College Dublin. She has exhibited
both nationally and internationally, most recently taking part in: Transmuted Performance
Festival (Mexico), The European Performance
Art Festival (Poland), Trouble (Belgium), A Lens
With a Conscience (USA), The National Review
of Live Art (Scotland). In 2011 she presented a
solo show at The LAB in Dublin, which explored the role of documentation in relation
to public engagement and performance.
She is the founder of OUT OF SITE, a festival of live art in public space in Dublin, presenting performances across Dublin city from
2006 until 2008. In 2009 she curated Vital
Signs, Dublin and in 2010 she was invited to
curate Tulca Festival of Visual Art in Galway.
Michelle is the recipient of the NCAD
Student Prize 2007, The RDS James White
Art Award 2006, The Arts Council of Ireland
Artist Bursary 2008 and 2010 and support
from Culture Ireland. She has written for
Circa Art Magazine, Visual Artists News Sheet
and Create News.
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Michelle Browne
My practice fundamentally explores how we engage with
our environment and the people around us. My work touches
on urban planning, architecture and social structures. I am interested in how the design of our environment and the social
structures that are put in place impact on the way we live in
contemporary society. I am interested in looking at the frisson
that is created in our engagement with public space – the
range of everyday interactions or irritations that effect our
experience of the city. The work is frequently developed site
specifically and I actively seek the participation of the general
public, often times in the form of discussion and dialogue.
This can involve offering suggestions (What Would You Put
Here?, Dublin, 2007), debating current issues relating to site
(New Éire, Berlin, 2007) or exploring the individual’s relationship to places and concepts (I Love Kassel, Kassel, 2007). The
interaction with participants opens up a constructed social
space in which to engage with each other and/or the world
around us.
www.michellebrowne.net
Project Description: New Éire
New Éire was proposed as a new Irish quarter in Berlin.
Presented in the Chancellery Garden at an EU cultural fair in
2007, this work questions the constructed nature of national
cultural identity. With the cooperation of the Irish Embassy,
New Éire was presented as part of a display of Irish culture.
The visitors to the fair were offered a brochure that highlighted the attractions of this new quarter and showed how
a little piece of Ireland could be created on their doorstep. The
passers-by were invited to consider how culture is employed
as a tool to promote economic growth and redevelopment in
Berlin. The structure of the work was very open. The viewer decided to take part or not. The piece was activated by discussion
between the artist and the viewer/participant.
The utilization of non-indigenous cultural identity to
promote economic change is the core interest of this project.
Does this represent a changing attitude toward national
identity in Germany? Equally, how is the employed culture
imaged? With immigration across Europe growing, can we
www.dfa.ie/home/index.
aspx?id=28733
The artist discusses the proposal
for New Éire, a new Irish Quarter
in Berlin, with a member of
the public, Berlin, 2007
© Tara Kennedy
Brochure for New Éire, a new
Irish Quarter in Berlin, 2007
© Michelle Browne
The artist discusses the proposal
for New Éire with a fair
visitor, Berlin, 2007
© Tara Kennedy
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present a homogeneous Irish identity with such rapid changes
in its racial demographic? New Éire compels the viewer to
consider their position in relation to these issues while also
becoming more aware of these changes in society in general.
Analysis: New Éire
I began to create work that engages with the public out
of a frustration with not being able to communicate my concerns through purely representational means. I was influenced
by groups like the Situationists and Fluxus, specifically Allan
Kaprow’s ‘art as life’ approach to art making. I was interested
in how discussion itself could be art. I was intrigued to explore
how interacting with a public could bring about an awareness or exploration of specific themes or concerns. My work
has developed in two strands. That of a purely discussionbased practice where social situations are created in which
people are encouraged to discuss specific topics, and a more
performance-influenced practice which explores the role of
the viewer in the dynamic of the performer/viewer relationship. I am interested in provoking the viewer into action, be
it interaction with a situation or with a person, often times
through dialogue and exchange.
New Éire proposed such an action. By offering the brochure
to the viewer/potential participant, they were prompted into
a discussion about changes in Berlin. This action triggered an
interaction with the concepts presented by the work, where
the participant considered their relationship to cultural identity in a globalized society. In most cases the viewer is afforded
the opportunity to decide whether they would like to be part
of this process or not. Making the viewer active rather than
passive in the art making process is what drives me to create
this kind of work and discussion is one of the fundamental
tools I use to do this.
Participation takes place when a person engages actively
in the work I am making. The participant may be an artist or
actor who is taking part in one of my choreographed interventions, such as The Chambermaids (Dublin, 2005) or Portapath (Dublin, 2007), or a passer-by who has stopped to have a
cup of tea and a chat as in the Here To Be Met series (performed
in Weimar, Galway and Dublin, 2007). Participation activates or
Interactivity
The Situationist International:
www.nothingness.org/SI
www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline
Kaprow, Allan: Essays on
the Blurring of Art and Life,
expanded edition, ed. by Jeff
Kelley, University of California
Press, Berkley, 2003
Participation
Eco, Umberto: The Open Work,
(translated by Anna Cancogni),
Hutchinson Radius, London,
1989, pp. 1-23
Collaboration
www.fringefest.com
Authorship
Responsibility
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creates the work. For the most part participants are entering
into a situation of my orchestration and they play out this
situation much as a musician might play a piece of music in
an orchestra. As with music there is some space for improvisation but mostly they are encouraged to follow a specific theme
or topic of my choice as with the discursive work New Éire.
I also question the relationship between participation and
collaboration. Collaboration, for me, implies a more active
role in decision-making and actual creation of the structures,
concepts and means of creating the work. This is more visible
in Mind The Gap, a public art project commissioned by The
Absolut Dublin Fringe Festival in 2009 where I worked with
architects, planners, designers and artists to consider alternative uses for public spaces in Dublin city. Those involved
devised and developed projects alongside me as the lead artist
and had equal control over output and conceptual intention.
The participants in New Éire do not collaborate in the sense
that they do not have control or input into these areas of the
work. While they are fundamental to the work being created
they do not precede this. Even in a work like Changing Spaces/
Making Places (Galway 2007), where a group of people was
invited to have a round table discussion about changes in the
cityscape of Galway, the role of those participating did not
progress into collaboration. As the artist I had ultimate control
over the topic of discussion, the means of its presentation to
the public and the underlying conceptual drive behind the
work. The collaborators in Mind The Gap did have control over
these areas, choosing the sites to work with, the means of production and the dissemination of the work as a group. Control,
would seem then, to be an important factor in relation to the
role of the artist.
This control implies a certain power for the artist. With
this power comes responsibility: a responsibility towards the
public who will encounter the work. Often times I feel rebellious towards the idea of responsibility. Like a petulant child
who refuses to cooperate I secretly wonder: why should I have
to change my plans, my ideas to suit you? But more often
working in public space is precisely about this kind of compromise. You have to find solutions to challenges presented by
conflicting needs or wants, between those of the audience
and those of the artist. The artist has a responsibility to his or
her own practice and to the integrity with which she or he
approaches their work. The audience, on the other hand, has a
right to a public space free of danger in which they can move
freely. It is also important to be conscious of a responsibility to
honour the participation of those who take part and also to
the wider public who experience the work as it is presented in
public spaces. This responsibility forms a kind of civic responsibility towards its presence in public space and the ideas or
products that are generated through the work. The responsibility also includes the need to accept and work with antagonisms that may arise from those who inhabit the space or
control the space while bringing the work to its full potential.
I strive to create work that challenges people’s comfort in
public space and the complacency that builds up as people go
about their daily lives. For me it is important to prepare for all
eventualities and to be aware of any negative outcomes that
may arise from the work. It is then possible to go on to create
the work in the knowledge that, while there will always be
an element of the unpredictable in public space, I have taken
every step to foresee potential problems without compromising the work itself.
I have recently worked with different forms of documentation of the work, interviewing participants and collaborators
to try to present a more rounded sense of the experience
of past projects. These have taken the form of text based and
audio soundtracks with images or video documentation of
public events. I am interested here in translating the participants’ experience of the work as this is often the element
that is missing in the documentation of live events. This
documentation tries to convey the vagaries of memory and
how these works are passed on after the fact in a staccato
collage of images and feelings, contextual elements and
personal reference points. Through this I have gained a greater
insight into the reception and experience of my work, in the
aftermath of its production.
Exhibited in the solo show
‘out on the sea was a boat full
of people singing’ and other
stories at The LAB, Dublin,
3rd March - 16 th April 2011;
www.thelab.ie
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Chrissie Cadman, born in 1966 in Derry,
Northern Ireland, is currently a PhD researcher
at the University of Ulster, Belfast, examining
cultural practice in Performance Art via social
networking spaces. From 2005 to 2007 she
studied and received a BA Fine and Applied
Arts Degree, and in 2009 she graduated with
a Master’s Degree in Art in Public. Chrissie
received the Freddie Clifford Sculpture Award
in 2005 from the Context Gallery in Derry
as a reflection of her HND/BTEC Studies in
Fine Art at the North West Institute, Derry.
Throughout the 1990s she spent many years
in the community arts sector and has developed educational programmes for N.I.O.C.N.
(Northern Ireland Open College Network)
in conjunction with the WEA (Workers Education Association). She has associations
with many of the Belfast based studios and is
currently a member of Bbeyond, a group that
supports Fine Art Performance Practice. In
2008 Chrissie was invited to take part in the
Nippon International Performance Art Festival
in Japan. She enjoys working collaboratively
and was invited as part of the group SCRABB
to take part in the National Live Art Review
in Glasgow 2009. She has been involved
extensively in the building of networks and
practices using both the performative and
social sculptural elements to her practice,
to open platforms of visual dialogues.
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Chrissie Cadman
My performance based practice aims to disrupt the flow
of political, social and cultural ideologies in the everyday. Interaction and collaboration with audience, place and time are
key to the situations creating visual dialogues in the ‘here and
now’.
I work in the public domain through performance exchanges, events, festivals and within the more traditional art
settings of gallery spaces. My work is nomadic and has the
ability to engage metaphorically with the self and the now.
The term ‘social sculpture’ 1, as I use it, highlights the importance of an engagement between concept, context and
audience and is close to my practice.
Abboutt
Abboutt is a piece in the Cork Art Trail (2007) in the Shandon Area of the City. Five members of Bbeyond were asked to
make performances as individuals but simultaneously in and
around this particular area where the inviting arts centre is
located.
We arrived three days before the event to research locally
and to find equipment etc. We were given a tour of the area.
We were also invited to witness other artists’ events and we
were told that, out of the art centre’s longstanding relationships, people in and around the area were very supportive of
the performance festival.
For my piece, taking place on Sunday, 30th September 2007,
12 to 6 pm, I was undressed to the waistline with my breasts
bound in orange silk. I wore long black trousers. My hair, head
and neck were painted orange and wrapped in chains and locks
of various weights and sizes.
A larger heavier chain of 45 meters was wrapped around my
upper torso and trailed behind me as I walked slowly through
the streets of Shandon. I had chosen particular metaphoric
elements regarding colours, chains with various weights and
lengths secured with locks and cable-ties.
The title Abboutt was important to me. The obscure
spelling came about because the piece also related to the
massacre of the Buddhist monks in Burma.2 This piece had
[email protected]
www.arttrail.ie
www.bbeyondperformance.org
Abboutt,
Cork Art Trail, 2007,
photos by Jason Lee
© Chrissie Cadman
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Bespoken,
Cavan Town Summer
Festival 2007
© Catherine Devlin
many readings, owing to the context and way in which it was
delivered within public space.
Aggressive responses
The performance was met with anger and evoked an aggressive public interaction by the viewing adult audience.
Remarks from children were of puzzlement and questioning.
A man coming out of the pub tried to physically attack
me with a fire hydrant. I dealt with the threat by standing
completely still and tapping the chain against the lamp post
where I was standing. I kept breathing as loudly as I could, to
remind him that I was a breathing living thing, whether he
could identify with the physical thing I represented or not.
This stand-off felt like an eternity. I stood still and concentrated on another member of the Bbeyond group who slowly
came towards me. Awareness yet pushing boundaries was
the position that I held in this work and it was a difficult space
to be in.
Reflection
Responsibility
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Particular actions require awareness in shared space and
can be problematic. The learning experience from this artwork was an acknowledgement of the responsibility for, ownership of and permission needed to navigate the arena of public
space.
I had a lack of knowledge that the GAA (Gaelic Aethletic
Association) championships semi final of the local Gaelic
football team was being aired in the nearby pub that Sunday
afternoon. That exacerbated the situation. A lot of alcohol was
involved, influencing people’s behaviour.
The person who was shadowing all the performers could
not be with everyone. I should have been aware that this particular area had an event of this nature. I should have insisted
on a chaperone.
As there was a larger group of performers, I could have
removed myself from being targeted as an individual. Alternatively I could have used the Bbeyond group to overwhelm
with the absurdity to regular Sunday afternoon activities.
Somehow people’s acceptance of a group behaving strangely
gives a particular distance for people to choose to react or
abstain from the engagement of interaction.
Bespoken
I participated in a similar group action as part of Cavan
Town Summer Festival (2008). Cavan is a town of the same
nature as the Shandon area of Cork.
Bespoken was a similar presentation with chains but I used
bubbles to soften the visual as I wanted to open – not close –
the ability for the audience to engage with me performing. The
use of bubbles lightened the heaviness and created the space
to do this. I sat beside members of the audience, the people in
public space.
Through the media, the festival organizer Joe Keenan made
the larger public aware of our presence and what would be
likely to happen. The involvement of a documentary film team
onsite while we performed made it easier for people to feel
secure in the viewing process. It gave people time to re-adjust
their acceptance of something out of the ordinary, without
necessarily turning to the ‘fight or flight’ cognitive process we
use to protect ourselves as human beings. The documentary
team interviewed the locals about their thoughts and thus
created a platform for expression.
www.cavansummerfestival.ie
Feedback
Communication via physical presence
I am a performance artist who has a contemporary art
practice that is influenced by political socio-economic environments, where considerations are given to ‘public’ and ‘private’,
‘contested’ and ‘non-contested’ spaces. They deliver the various
concepts of my work.
Often people remark about spectacle and exhibitionism
being the driver of the artist. It could be an interpretation of
performance art on occasions when the Ego is greater than
the art. I believe my practice is far from this. It is exhilarating
but at the same time it is the place where I am the most vulnerable within myself. I have an anxiety level before performing which manifests itself in many ways; I cannot eat before a
performance and I need to be completely quiet for at least an
hour beforehand. Many other rituals need to be done by me to
Debord, Guy: The Society of the
Spectacle, numerous editions,
1967
See: www.marxists.org/
reference/archive/debord/
society.htm
control the adrenalin that is required to expose myself. I need
to give my attention to balance the mind and body. This is to
enable me to focus during my performance, to become totally
aligned in a moment. In that moment I am not aware of the
usual time flow of day-to-day life, but I am absorbed and immersed in what I am involved in doing.
Instead of my daily life controlling the socially conditioned
‘Me’, the intuitive, instinctive ‘Me’ is available and able to open
a language based in my physicality which is expressed sometimes with the metaphoric presence of objects (e.g. chains,
bubbles, choice of clothes) that hold languages of their own in
particular contexts.
I must be clear on my abilities to command space and read
urban fabrics as well as my awareness of social conditions.
The performance is created visually through mostly non-verbal
personal interactions by myself, the audience members and
other artists.
Collaboration
Collaboration
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A positive definition of collaboration is when people work
together to achieve a goal. Collaboration brings greater resources to this process and this is why I like to work collaboratively.
As part of an event of a performance festival format, collaboration comes in the form of teamwork between the
artists and the organizers. The organizational team will take
care of the resources and frameworks needed by the artists,
such as equipment, materials, documentation processes,
artists’ accommodation, fees, timetabling etc.
When we work as Bbeyond, we discuss and then agree prior
to the performance, to begin and end with a certain visual,
for example, agreeing to stop when the sun goes down. It becomes more intuitive when you work with the same people
and you know when something is at its natural end.
Every event has a theme and the event organizer would
brief us, the performers, of what they expect. The theme’s
outline leaves space for us to respond according to our artistic
language. The collaboration described above is usually done
prior to the event or festival via email and skype.
Contracts are checked and signed. The contracts include
agreements of copyright, public physical positions (nudity and
materials allowed for use in public regarding safety). Speaking and negotiating as one voice is essential when expressing
opinion concerning images for publications and publicity and
giving pre-consent.
You are asked to remember that you are a representative
of the Bbeyond group. I take this responsibility very seriously,
so I am mindful of what the working ethos of the group represents in terms of performance art practice.
Collaboration of a different kind occurs on the day. The
artists involved might offer a performance open for collaboration with the viewers in relation to set artistic aims. It
works like a social conversation between artist, audience and
environment.
Responsibility
Conclusion
People often do not understand the metaphoric language
of a performance. However, this dialogue might leave traces
behind and has the potential to create a certain knowledge in
time. This exchange in the form of visual dialogue creates the
ability to share and open relationships in various guises.
As the author or creator of the work, I believe the audience
or viewer is most important to the expansion of the concept
that I present. The audience – existing simultaneously in the
same space as I do – brings an energy and pace that can alter
the direction or inform the artwork.
I present my artistic concept. It is a solitary act in a private
moment but one that is exposed to and subsequently informed by the viewer’s acceptance or rejection within that
same moment. The viewer’s power also lies in the form of capturing the event, e.g. through mobile phones and subsequently their presentation of my work on social media websites.
I learned from these two pieces that the journey is twofold: if you involve yourself in an environment, you need to
develop a self-awareness of your unknown internal areas.
Within that, you even have choices. Simultaneously, you react
to the unpredictable in the very real space. All of this leads to
the visual dialogue.
Authorship
Feedback
I have to honestly admit that audience empowers me
and negotiates non-verbally with me the position I take
visually in the space. The concept of the neutral performer
independent from context does not exist from the social
sculptor’s performance view-point.
A ‘social sculptor’ is an artist who creates structures in society using language,
thought, action and object. It is a term created by Joseph Beuys to illustrate art’s
potential to transform society.
See: www.social-sculpture.org
1
2
These murders were highly publicized in the worldwide media. One lead event
was the stripping naked of the head monk and making him parade in front of the
rest of the monks, making him bark like a dog and then shooting him.
See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7071018.stm
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Ele Carpenter is a curator, writer and artist
based in London. Her creative and curatorial
practice investigates specific socio-political
cultural contexts in collaboration with artists,
makers, amateurs and experts. She is a lecturer in curating at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and recently completed a
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at HUMlab
in affiliation with Bildmuseet, Umeå University,
Sweden (2008-10). She is currently researching the potential for commissioning artists to
engage in the process of dismantling British
nuclear submarines, in partnership with Arts
Catalyst.
Since 2005 Ele has facilitated the Open
Source Embroidery (OSE) project using embroidery and code as a tool to investigate the
language and ethics of participatory production and distribution. The OSE exhibition,
presenting work by over 30 artists, including
the finished HTML Patchwork, was shown in
the Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden (2009) and the
Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco
(2010). The HTML Patchwork is now on display
at the National Museum of Computing at
Bletchley Park, UK (2011-12). Ele is currently
facilitating the Embroidered Digital Commons –
a distributed embroidery exploring collective
work and ownership 2008-2013.
Ele received her PhD on the relationship
between politicized socially engaged art and
new media art, with CRUMB at the University
of Sunderland in 2008. She was previously
curator, NGCA Sunderland (1997-2002) as well
as associate curator, CCA Glasgow (2003-05).
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Ele Carpenter
I am a curator, artist and researcher interested in the relationship between participation and collaboration in digital
culture. In 2007 I developed Open Source Embroidery (OSE) as
a creative project to facilitate discussion about the relationship between open production and distribution methods in
open source software and needlework craft.
Whether curating exhibitions, writing text or creating
art, I develop my work through critical dialogue with others,
designing flexible structures to facilitate people to move
from interaction to participation, and from participation to
collaboration.
The OSE project investigates participatory, collective, and
collaborative practice in workshops and online. It examines
the shared characteristics of creative skills in diverse communities of interest including computer programmers and craftspeople. The project investigates tensions between object and
process, valuing gift economies, and bringing together amateur
and professional experience.
elecarpenter.org.uk
eleweekend.blogspot.com
open-source-embroidery.org.uk
Open Source Embroidery
www.open-source-embroidery.org.uk (OSE) is a socially engaged new media art project, developed online and through
workshops. The project is an umbrella for a broad area of
activity exploring the relationship between the crafts of open
source programming and needlework. Common characteristics
include: shared social process of development; transparency of
process and product; and gendered attention to detail.
Embroidery is constructed in hundreds of tiny stitches that
are visible on the front of the fabric. The system of the stitches
is revealed on the reverse of the material. Some embroiderers
seal the back of the fabric, preventing others from seeing the
underlying structure of the pattern. Others leave the back
open for those who want to see how it’s made. A few integrate
the backend process into the front of the fabric. The patterns
are shared amongst friends in knitting and embroidery circles.
Software is constructed in hundreds of tiny pieces of code,
which form the hidden structure of the programme or interface. Open source software allows you to look at the fabric of
Carpenter, Ele: Activist Tendencies
in Craft, in: Cox, Geoff and N.
Haq, T. Trevor (Eds.): Art, Activism and Recuperation, Concept
Store #3, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2010
HTML Patchworkshop
Access Space, Sheffield,
November 2007
© Jack Harries
PHP Embroidery (2007),
Iain Clark
Ether (Swatch) (2007),
Paul Grimmer
© Ele Carpenter
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code, and understand the structure of your software, modify it
and distribute it. The code is shared amongst friends through
online networks. However the stitches or code only make
sense to those who are familiar with the language or patterns.
Both practices have to negotiate the principles of ‘freedom’
to create, modify and distribute, within cultural and economic
constraints.
There are a number of artists, craftspeople and programmers working in the field, and a growing interest in ways of
articulating open development models. Through exhibitions,
online groups and workshops, OSE hopes to connect artists,
makers and programmers internationally.
Carpenter, E.: Shaggy Modernism,
in: James Hutchinson: works
2007-2011, Art Editions North,
Sunderland, 2011
Collaboration, participation and ownership
Collective and participatory creative production is a social
activity built on dialogue and social networks, it’s also a quick
way of completing a large task. Working collaboratively enables
many experiences and skills to be brought to a project. But
when is a project collaborative, and when is it participatory?
In my thesis Politicised Socially Engaged Art and New Media Art
I make a clear distinction between collaboration and participation, terms that are often used inter-changeably. Participation
involves ‘taking part’ usually contributing to someone else’s
project, whilst collaboration is ‘joint ownership’. The legal terms
of ownership, authorship and copyright usually define whether
a project is collaborative or not.
There are also distinctions to be made between collaborative and collective practice. Whilst collaboration can be formed
between two people, a collective can involve large numbers.
However, because something is collectively produced, it is not
necessarily collectively owned. So collectives can be participatory or collaborative, depending on the authorial status of the
outcomes.
However, these distinctions are complex and blurred when
working in real-life situations where projects constantly embrace and shift between many different working relationships.
Open Source Embroidery (OSE) involves several sets of these
relationships. It’s an over-arching concept covering a range of
processes and artworks including collaborative partnerships,
Carpenter, Ele: Politicised
Socially Engaged Art and
New Media Art, PhD Thesis
(unpublished), University
of Sunderland, 2008
Collaboration vs. participation
Authorship
HTML Patchwiki, HTML Patchwork, GYRMBC Tent (2007-09)
OSE exhibition, Bildmuseet,
Umeå, Sweden, 2009
© Ele Carpenter
HTML Patchwork (2007-09)
© Ele Carpenter
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participatory projects, and individual art works both online and
offline. The project is not organized as a collective, but is a
series of interlinking social and professional networks across
different disciplines and websites.
The OSE project explores how creative participation can
lead to interdisciplinary collaborative working, bringing together groups and individuals with shared methods and ethics
but different practices to make new work. The communities of
computer programmers and needle-crafters have established
methods of working collectively and developing structures
for participatory production, and quickly find synergies in their
work.
Whilst I have instigated and facilitated the project, my role
also includes editor, curator, artist and researcher. I am the
maker and owner of my own works, the facilitator and keeper
of collective projects and the curator of OSE exhibitions, which
include artworks by other artists and makers. The original
OSE concept evolved through conversations with artists Sneha
Solanki and Clare Ruddock.
I began by making embroideries of activist HTML concrete poetry at Flaxart Studios in Belfast. The works were
then used as discussion pieces for thinking about stitching
and computing in small workshops. In 2007 I undertook a
residency at Access Space, an open-access open-source media
lab in Sheffield, where the HTML Patchwork and Patchwiki
were initiated. 1
The HTML Patchwork was developed in response to the
Access Space community and the popularity of quilting in
Sheffield. Patchworker Lisa Wallbank posed the question ‘What
would an open source patchwork look like?’ Clare Ruddock
immediately envisioned a patchwork of HTML websafe colours.
I then researched hexadecimal colour codes and patchwork,
and established a framework for a large-scale participatory
project, working with James Wallbank and Keith O’Faoláin to
develop an online wiki and OSE website.2 The wiki enabled
participants to post and update information about their patch
online.
In response to the OSE project, Paul Grimmer and Iain Clark
made individual works. I then invited them to plug into each
Carpenter, Ele: Social Making,
in: Charny, Daniel (Ed.): The
Power of Making, exhibition
catalogue, Victoria & Albert
Museum, London, 2011
pen Source Embroidery has
O
been exhibited at:
Museum of Craft & Folk Art,
San Francisco (2010), Bildmuseet,
Umeå, Sweden (2009), HTTP
Gallery, London (2008) and
Access Space Sheffield (2007)
http://electronicartist.net/
solanki
www.clareruddock.blogspot.
com
www.open-source-embroidery.
org.uk/osembroiderywork
shops.htm
www.flaxartstudios.com
www.access-space.org
Embroidered Digital Commons:
Meme, workshop at Furtherfield Gallery, London,
April 2012
© Emilie Giles
Embroidered Digital Commons:
Meme, workshop at
Furtherfield Gallery,
London, April 2012
© Emilie Giles
HTML Patchwork (2008),
reverse detail
© Ele Carpenter
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other to form a symbiotic artwork. Paul Grimmer’s woven network cable Ether (swatch) (2008) is used to connect Iain Clark’s
script PHP Embroidery (2007) from the network to the computer so that it can be viewed live from the server on a computer
monitor in a gallery. 3 The work was not produced collaboratively, but each work is dependent on the technology that the
other provides to realize its function. This is an interesting
metaphor for many socially engaged and new media art works
which are developed through a series of social and technical
processes. The php script for Iain’s work is available online for
visitors to modify.
The OSE project explores environmental and social sustainability through examining economic models of production
and distribution. The project utilizes gift economies through
social networks and re-uses old fabric and old computers
where possible. In this way the financial costs are low, and the
project is sustainable within the communities of interest who
have the skills and materials to develop new projects. I have
worked within the communication networks and nodes of
each community of interest to establish dialogue and invite
people to take part. This has involved participating in online
forums, blogs and going to community group meetings. There
is a critical context for the work as part of the DIY hacker and
maker movement involving inventors, artists, crafters, and programmers across amateur and professional networks. However,
the challenge of not owning a participatory project is complex,
and brings very specific responsibilities.
My responsibility is to establish a profile for the project
and its outcomes to disseminate the ideas and practice to
other practitioners and a wider public. I am credited as the
curator or facilitator of the project, and all participants are
credited in the project documentation and information.
The HTML Patchwork (2007-09) is now a completed fabric
quilt, and is on display at the National Museum of Computing
at Bletchley Park during 2011 and 2012. However, the Patchwiki
suffered from using old wiki software that did not automatically re-size images, making it hard for people to use. Finally a
comprehensive spam attack forced me to close the wiki, and it
remains online but in an incomplete state. Interestingly it is
www.iainclark.co.uk/
other_stuff.php
Sustainability
Responsibility
Carpenter, Ele: Open Source
Embroidery: Curatorial Facilitation of Material Networks, in:
Hemmings, Jessica (Ed.): The
Textile Reader, Berg, Oxford &
New York, 2012
www.tnmoc.org
www.humlab.umu.se/english
www.open-source-embroidery.
org.uk/EDC.htm
Raqs Media Collective: A Concise
Lexicon of/for the Digital
Commons, in: Sarai Reader 03:
Shaping Technologies, Monica
Narula et al (Eds.), Sarai-CSDS
Delhi/WAAG Amsterdam, 2003,
p. 365
www.raqsmediacollective.net
www.sarai.net/publications/
readers/03-shapingtechnologies
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the physical object that remains intact and is the most present
and immediate way of understanding the process of bringing
together simple HTML colour code and textiles.
From 2008 to 2010 I undertook a post-doctorate artists
fellowship at HUMlab in partnership with the Bildmuseet art
gallery at the University of Umeå in Northeast Sweden. The
fellowship enabled me to curate a large-scale OSE exhibition,
and to initiate a new distributed embroidery project called the
Embroidered Digital Commons. This new project invites groups
and individuals to embroider small sections of text that form
A Concise Lexicon of/for the Digital Commons published by
the Raqs Media Collective in 2003. The lexicon is comprised of
twenty-six terms which poetically describe the interrelationship between social, digital and material space. It weaves
together an evolving language of the commons, which forms
the ethical basis of the Open Source Embroidery project.
The notion of the Digital Commons, where the digital is
common, or rather what is digital is common to all, commonly
owned, commonly accessed or available. Like common grazing
lands, or the common good, the commons has become synonymous with digital media through the discourse surrounding free and open source software and creative commons
licensing. The Digital Commons is a response to the inherent
‘copy ’n’ paste’ reproducibility of digital codes, scripts and files,
and the cultural forms that they support. Instead of trying to
claim ground or restrict access, the Digital Commons invite
open participation in the production of ideas and culture. Where
culture is not something you buy, but something you do.
The HTML Patchwork is formed of 216 coloured hexagons each embroidered with
its HTML colour code. The wiki is the online version of the patchwork where participants uploaded images and stories about the making of their patch.
See: www.open-source-embroidery.org.uk/patchwork.htm
1
2
James and Lisa Wallbank are both involved in Access Space. Keith O’Faoláin was a
volunteer there at the time.
Iain Clark wrote his PHP Embroidery script for the Open Source Embroidery workshop at Connecting Principle: Process, Culture Lab, Newcastle University, 2007. This
online artwork resembles a weaving pattern, with colours moving up the screen
depending on the speed of your browser and internet connection. Paul Grimmer’s
Ether (swatch) is woven Ethernet cable of the same dimensions as a computer
screen. The woven cable was used in the OSE exhibition to connect Iain Clark’s
PHP Embroidery to the network. The php script uses a command to repeat and
refresh the page, and re-plot the colour spaces and frequencies across the screen.
See: www.open-source-embroidery.org.uk/patchwork.htm
3
N
I
RK
A
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A
N
FIO
Fiona Larkin is an artist based in Belfast
whose work primarily finds form in video
and action but also utilizes photography,
drawing and improvisation. Her research interests range from street facts and fictions
to ideas of otherness and how it determines
our relationship to place. To study these varying interests she investigates the local and
the seemingly incidental, often relying on
contributions from the passer-by to respond
to her transitory street actions.
In 2002 she received an MFA from the
University of Ulster and holds a BA from the
National College of Art and Design (NCAD),
Dublin. Since 2008 she has been a member
of Flaxart Studios. She has participated in
international residencies in Tokyo and New
York and has been the recipient of several
Arts Council Northern Ireland (ACNI) awards.
She has exhibited both nationally and internationally with work shown in Ireland, Japan,
Spain and in the United Kingdom.
She is actively engaged in her local art
community and for five years sat on the board
of the Digital Arts Studios, she currently sits
on the board of Source Magazine.
She is keenly interested and involved in
art education. From 2007 to 2010 she taught
Fine Art at the University of Ulster, Belfast
and is currently part-time lecturer in the
Fine Art Media Department at NCAD.
Her video work is held in the ACNI’s and
University of Ulster’s public collection.
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Fiona Larkin
My approach to practice is multi-disciplinary. Ideas are initially explored and developed through the drawing process but
are eventually realized across a range of appropriate mediums.
This has included photography, stop-frame animations and
video-actions.
In my video-actions I orchestrate and carry out interventions with members of the general public. These appear as
inconsequential events but in fact form discreet transgressions.
I set out to solicit a response and create a basis for personal
interaction in a public environment; therefore the work relies
on the unwitting contribution of strangers, developing a kind
of complex choreography between myself, the stranger, the
video camera and the viewer.
Underpinning all the work is an acute questioning of the
nuances inherent within human interaction. I consider the
work as an exploration of human behavioural responses, investigating the gaps and folds that occur within conventions
of communication. The work gently provokes our accepted
codes of social behaviour and addresses the notion of the construction of self and how we develop our identity in relation
to others. The high street and the home become the testing
ground for this, where the actions I carry out momentarily
breech the temptation to be other, making apparent the
sometimes, subtle differences that we normally reserve for
the private domain.
Fall – Video Action (2003)
This project examines methods of control and loss of control in the public domain. The intervention, which might be
referred to as ‘trickery’ on behalf of the artist, is a simple fall
constructed in front of an unwitting audience. The element of
surprise serves to punctuate the rhythm of the street; it offers
another focus for passers-by and a reason to respond.
Fall was recorded on CCTV cameras, offering a birds eye
view. The viewer is immediately elevated; this camera is in a
sense privileged, however, it is also set apart and distanced.
The camera angle has the suggestion of power and control,
however falling in the middle of a busy street shows a loss of
www.fionalarkin.com
The Kindness of Strangers,
Belfast, 2005
© Fiona Larkin
Fall,
still from CCTV footage,
Belfast, 2003
Fall,
still from CCTV footage,
Belfast, 2003
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40 Strangers (2004),
video still
© Fiona Larkin
Fall,
still from CCTV footage
Belfast, 2003
Fall,
still from CCTV footage
Belfast, 2003
control. Fall investigates methods of surveillance but ultimately
self-surveillance and behavioural response. What the cameras
focused on were the reactions of passers-by, most of whom
offered help. These were the project’s unwitting participants,
their response helped to highlight behavioural patterns, in this
case sympathy and an urge to help or empathize with someone in difficulty.
The outcome of this action is a momentary engagement
on the street, which is difficult to define and a video document
with which the gallery audience are implicated and offered a
reflection of themselves.
Describe the interactivity in your specific projects. | On
which levels are the art projects interactive?
Interactivity
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My introduction to making interactive work was a project
titled: The Sandbagged Arse in 1998. The action involved walking about Belfast city wearing a kind of leatherette prosthesis.
This was the first time I had considered using the street as
a site for work. Orchestrating these interventions offered a
number of different possibilities, primarily, active involvement
with members of the public, also a real world context and a
broader audience. The work was then transplanted in a fairly
raw form to the gallery. I made a number of extra prostheses so
that the gallery audience might have active involvement too.
Since then I have continued to use the high street as the
space for staging work. The work sets out to explore relationships between self and other. The level of interactivity is subtle,
banal even, but manipulated by my actions. The actions themselves often masquerade as ordinary acts, falling in the street,
asking impertinent questions at a bus stop. This occurs in the
street between myself and a member of the public or ‘unwitting participants’ and the communication is provoked by my
action. The action functions as a catalyst in soliciting response
and engagement from the public.
Though I set up potential for exchange I cannot determine
what that might be as each person responds in their own individual way, therefore the interaction focuses on unique isolated incidents which, when viewed as a whole, connect us. For
example, if we consider conversation at a bus stop to be a type
of informal interchange 1, then it is this level of interactivity that
interests me. The intention is that these kinds of incidental
interactions serve to punctuate and examine the relationship
between self and other.
How do you define participation? | Who are your participants? | What is their role? | How much are they part of
the decision-making?
As each project I carry out occurs amidst a different casual
audience the definition of participant is problematized. If a
participant is a ‘player’ or a ‘member’ then that definition is ill
fitting, however, if we consider a participant to be a contributor
then this is certainly the case for the individuals who appear
in my work. It is the observation of the casual passer-by that
fuels the work and their unselfconscious reaction towards my
action that is at the heart of what I am investigating. To illustrate how these unwitting participants have featured in the
work and what role they play I will discuss a number of projects
I have carried out in the street.
In Fall (2003) I set up a scenario that seeks to provoke empathy in others, by falling in the middle of a busy street. The
passers-by act as witness/audience to this very ordinary act.
Many of them sympathize with me, some ignore me. These
reactions filmed from afar on CCTV cameras offer the gallery
viewer a privileged insight into our unselfconscious response
to an other’s loss of control in this specific situation.
Here the role of the gallery viewer as participant or perhaps
‘colluder’ is brought into question. Their privileged viewpoint
offers them a powerful panoptic position, however their position as audience/participant is a more complex one, do they
empathize with the one who falls or the passers-by whose empathy is being sought fraudulently?
In 40 Strangers (2004) I furtively filmed, through a camera
hidden in my handbag, the hands of strangers whom I engaged
in conversation at bus and train stations. I played the role of a
slightly intrusive stranger. The first question asked, ‘Where are
you going to?’, is ordinary and appears as a polite transgression though, when asked upfront to a complete stranger some
are affronted, some shrink away. The gestures filmed on the
Participation
hidden camera, although they are simply close ups of hands,
are very revealing. The focal point became the irritated gestures, and attempts to dissociate from the conversation by the
strangers that I approached.
That this simple question strikes as an intrusion serves
to point at the absurd nature of the things we hold as private
considering all of these strangers were filmed on public transport. The role that these commuters played, unknown to
themselves, was to highlight the juncture between private
and public.
In The Kindness of Strangers (2005) I removed myself from
the work, I placed a gift wrapped in colourful exotic paper in
the high street and photographed how passers-by reacted to
it. The peculiarity of the brightly coloured box sitting in the
middle of the grey street provoked much curiosity. The fact the
camera was visible offered a kind of explanation though for
many, they chose to return the gift to me and thus complete
the puzzle. Their decision to do this was of their own making
but calls attention to aspects of human nature that are in
themselves surprising.
According to your collaborative or/and participatory
artwork define your idea of responsibility. What do
you feel responsible for, what not?
Responsibility
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In my work I aim to throw open incidental private moments
for public reflection. This transgresses the notion of private
and public and leaves this open for scrutiny.
The use of the hidden camera bears the biggest burden of
responsibility. From Bentham 2 to Big Brother the pervasive nature of the camera in society today is well understood. Secretly
filming people is considered cruel and intrusive, yet when the
camera is out in the open we modify our behaviour and react
selfconsciously, knowingly. The work consciously employs this
notion of preservation of privacy in public spaces to examine
issues of surveillance or more acutely, of self-surveillance. How
we react when faced with an open camera highlights our levels
of sophisticated self-surveillance.
In Fall I used CCTV cameras to highlight issues of control
in public spaces but also, through prompting innate behaviour
responses to lack of control (i.e. falling over), I aimed to draw
a parallel to our in-built levels of self-control in public.
The issue of responsibility is also addressed in the editing
process. When editing 40 Strangers I carefully edited out the
faces of the individuals I spoke to. This presence without face
(the absence of the face suggests masking, preservation of
identity, as in police CCTV) points to a kind of respect so that
the pervasive nature of the camera can be brought into focus
and questioned. Here using closely cropped shots and focusing on the hands of the contributor maintained a level of
anonymity.
Through careful editing the spectacle of the everyday is
mediated that we may focus on the subtleties of the relationships we form in the most ordinary of situations.
Here ‘interchange’ is used to describe the exchange of words between myself and
the stranger.
1
2
Jeremy Bentham’s ‘Panopticon’ designed for discipline in prison systems is noted
for creating the possibility of rendering the inmate constantly visible.
See: Foucault, Michel: Discipline and Punishment: The birth of the prison, Penguin,
London, 1977
Sontag, Susan: On Photography,
New York, Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 1977
y
e
ck
a
M
e
in
t
is
r
Ch
Christine Mackey is an artist and independent researcher who graduated with a
practice-based PhD from the University of
Ulster, Belfast in 2012. She has received awards
from The Arts Council of Ireland, ev+a Limerick,
Cultural Ireland and was short-listed for the
A.I.B Emerging Award.
Her practice combines site-specific and
public works, exhibitions, performance and
art-books. She employs diverse disciplines,
subject matter and tactics in devising works
that can generate different kinds of knowledge of place, their hidden histories and ecological formations.
Recent exhibitions and residencies include
in 2009 e-MobilArts, The State Museum of
Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, Greece and
The Academy of Fine Arts, Katowice, Poland;
It’s not what I have started…, Studio Golo Brdo,
Croatia; The Garden for Ostenda, RIAA, Argentina; Intimate Formations Drawing Spaces,
Lisbon, Portugal; in 2008 RIVERwork(s), The
Sligo Art Gallery – exhibition and publication;
New Sites New Fields, Leitrim Sculpture Centre;
TRADE, Residency with Alfredo Jaar – site-specific interventions and exhibition, The Dock,
Carrick-on-Shannon; in 2007 Camouflash,
Patio Art Center in Lodz, Poland; Sanskriti Art
Foundation, New Delhi, India.
In 2011 she completed a solo exhibition
for the Butler Gallery followed by a set of
drawings commissioned by IMMA for the
publication Line Exploring Space in 2012.
Christine is a member of Ground Up
Artist Collective and Axis.
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Christine Mackey
For several years I have examined the role of ecological
systems (social, biological and physical) and their representation in the present day through the production of various
materials. My projects are often informed by an investigative
‘field’ work strategy and key to this is an engagement with
people as an enactive platform for social exchange. This
approach can generate alternative narratives of place and
their ecological formations.
www.christinemackey.com
www.groundupartists.com
www.axisweb.org
RIVERwork(s)
The departure point for this history of space is not to be
found in geographical descriptions of natural space, but rather in
the study of natural rhythms, and of the modification of those
rhythms and their inscription in space by means of human
actions, especially work-related actions. It begins, then, with the
spatio-temporal rhythms of nature as transformed by a social
practice. >
RIVERwork(s) (2006-08) was a public art project commissioned by Sligo Local Authorities through their programme 1:
Unraveling Developments curated by Joe Lee.
This project represents a series of historical and topographical studies undertaken about Doorly Park, the Garavogue River
and the surrounding environs. This research culminated in the
production of an art-book and an exhibition held at The Yeats
Art Gallery, Sligo. The structure of the project evolved around
five thematic strands that also delineated the methodology
outlined in each section of the book summarized below as:
itinerarie(s), pattern(s), temporalitie(s), deposition(s) and
materialitie(s).
Lefebvre, Henri: The Production
of Space, (translated by Donald
Nicholson-Smith), Blackwell,
Oxford, 2001, p. 117
>
www.sligococo.ie
http://sligoarts.ie/Publications/
PublicArt
www.sdgi.ie/members/
member1.php?DirectorID=52
www.sligotown.net/
garavogueriver.shtml
www.yeats-sligo.com/
sligo_art_gallery
itinerarie(s)
Cleaveragh Demesne is an expansive wetland area planted
by Colonel William Gregory Wood-Martin (1847-1917) who was
the last person to live at Cleaveragh, on which Doorly Park is
sited. The Garavogue River runs from Lough Gill, meandering
by Doorly Park flowing up through the city into the port and
leading out of Aughamore Bay into the Atlantic Ocean. The
river inscribes a natural passageway stretching across a diverse
www.census.nationalarchives.
ie/pages/1901/Sligo/Sligo_
East_Urban/Cleaveragh_
Demesne__part_of_/
www.landedestates.ie/
LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.
jsp?id=64
Fishermen, drawing and
image, from RIVERwork(s)
publication 2008
© Christine Mackey
RIVERwork(s) deposition(s),
The Yeats Art Gallery,
Sligo, 2008
© Christine Mackey
Wood-Martin House, drawing
and image, from RIVERwork(s)
publication 2008
© Christine Mackey
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Birds met within the county
of Sligo, drawing,
RIVERwork(s), 2006
© Christine Mackey
Angelica,
drawing, 2006
© Christine Mackey
RIVERwork(s),
The Yeats Art Gallery,
Sligo, 2008
© Christine Mackey
www.sligoborough.ie
Interactivity
range of habitats and serving as a mediator between the physical and cultural make-up of the town, its community and
socio-historical developments.
Wood-Martin, who was a keen antiquarian, conducted
studies of ancient dwellings and customs throughout Ireland
and Europe. He worked closely with the painter William F.
Wakeman collaborating on a number of expeditions and publications. Wood-Martin was skilled through practical ‘spade
knowledge’, in-depth fieldwork, ‘delving’ into the past and
writing in great detail about the value of Irish monuments,
its inhabitants and land.
In 1948 Cleaveragh Demesne was sold to Sligo Borough
Council for a nominal sum and in June 2007, I undertook my
first walk with Richard Wood-Martin (grandson of William
Wood-Martin), traversing the remains of what was once an
eclectic range of rooms and add-ons, listening quietly for its
inhabitants and recalling his movements through the house
as a child.
Many months were spent on site walking alone and in
the company of others, recording conversations, collecting
material, photographing minute seasonal details and applying a diverse range of drawing applications that were all
transcribed for the book.
pattern(s)
Participation
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The study of topography as a field-method and repository
for new language formed a subject for this research. Liquid
material in the form of specific words (mizzle, billow, fluet,
babble, scud, swell, comber) inspired a number of schematic
diagrams in relation to the formation of rivers. Doing things
with words, making drawings with words, can bind a diverse
range of habitats combining an eclectic range of data and
historical publications. These drawings were neither representative nor illustrative of the river but framed as a transitive
response to a different kind of journey afforded between drawing and writing, thinking and walking.
Local communities and in particular users of the river were
invited into the project. I spent time with a number of fishermen in the area in particular Edward Armstrong and Christy
Hynes, members of the Sligo Anglers Club who had kept a
detailed record of the fish catches from Lough Gill and the
Garavogue (1984-2006), not only to keep a track of fish-stocks
but also to manage the temper of the Garavogue.
This information was written in yearly notebooks and
proved exciting raw material to develop new work from.
I transferred this information into an excel spreadsheet and
re-visualized the statistical information as a pie chart. The
diagram was situated next to photographs of the fishermen
on the lake, which linked the origin of the work and the biodiversity of the river to the cultural manipulation of our habitats that are under threat from environmental degradation
and human interventions.
www.facebook.com/
pages/Sligo-Anglers-Association/187486461272126
temporalitie(s)
On my journeys I became interested in the naming and
classification of landscape features and this led to the writings
of Miss Owenson and in particular her books Patriotic Sketches
of Ireland, Vol 1 & 11 published in 1807, held at Pearse Street
Library, Dublin.
These books drew out not only the physical attributes of
the landscape but they also contained fragmentary descriptions of the locale interspersed with political and social commentary. The paragraphs in her books were numbered in sequential order titled as Sketches, from which I extracted her
footwork through Sligo. These were reformatted as a completed
travelogue, introducing footnotes into her original text, which
were used as an ordering system that mapped, listed and
located the names and meanings of the places that she had
visited whilst outlining her personal narrative.
In response to her text, I developed a number of ‘Landdrawings’ at Cleaveragh that traced the boundary lines and
walls of the remaining buildings. The act of tracing the pathways and site remains can be seen as a ritual act of contemplation and led to the production of new archaeological evidence
that helped to reveal the hidden and multilayered histories of
the land and the stratification of time.
These drawings were then joined together to form one
large sheet on which an 18th century model dress pattern was
Authorship
>
Bakhtin, M.M.: The Dialogic
Imagination: Four Essays by
M.M. Bakhtin, (translated by
Caryl Emerson & Michael
Holquist), University of Texas
Press, Austin, 1981
Foucault, Michel: Of Other
Spaces, in: Diacritics, Vol. 16,
No. 1, Spring 1986, pp. 22-27
>
http://ie.linkedin.com/pub/
malcolm-gerry/14/41/101
Cooperation
drawn, cut and sewed. I later wore this dress on location, revisiting the places that Miss Owenson had recorded in her
books, merging her journey back to the house at Cleaveragh.
The completed work was presented as a photo-document
that signified a structure for threading together multiple
events as an embodied social practice of place making and
duration – wearing the earth or the earth being worn. >
Miss Owenson’s work was a seminal influence in reading
the landscape as a transitive archive of site associations that
reconstructs the local as a feminine model of reproduction. >
Mapping was considered in this project through many approaches and materials. For example: there is an abandoned
orchard not marked on the official estate map of the area.
I worked with Malcolm Gerry, a land-surveyor mapping the
site and marking each of the trees, which included both apples
and pears. On the surface of the map I inserted a number of
photographs, taken of the area. The purpose of this visual exercise was to reclaim the arbitrary and subjective patterns of
man made structures and surfaces – ‘micro-wilderness’, from
the gaps of unmapped or forgotten spaces.
deposition(s)
http://itsligo.academia.edu/
DonCotton
Praeger, Robert Lloyd: Irish
Topographical Botany, The
Academy House, Dublin, 1901
http://itsligo.academia.edu/
SamMoore
www.megalithicireland.com/
Abbeyquarter%20North.htm
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The ‘plant’ as a nomadic life form can draw the political
and social boundaries of public space. In some situations the
‘plant’ can migrate as a weed or a wildflower (depending on
one’s position and taste). Doorly Park as an intermediary space
of growth and decay contains both native and non-native
plants and was explored en route with the botanist Don Cotton.
This work was also inspired by Robert Lloyd Praeger’s book
the Irish Topographical Botany. Praeger was a regular visitor to
Sligo. These engagements informed a number of botanic seed
studies and drawings that led me to identify numerous plants
on site. This information drew attention to the on-going destruction of native plants as Cotton outlined. There are now
70% non-native species, 20% weeds and 10% native plants and
this once alluvial woodland is now considered as ‘damaged
ground’.
In addition, Sam Moore an archaeologist accompanied me
on a walk through Garavogue Villas, originally called Abbey
Quarter North. This was one of the first social housing estates
to be built in Sligo on the grounds of Cleaveragh. The purpose
of the walk was to study an ancient monument, which symbolized the importance of the Garavogue at Abbey Quarter as a
major fording point from North Connaught to South Connaught.
These glacial erratics (deposited during the last glaciation) are
all part of the same ritualized landscape of megalithic tombs
in Sligo that relate to the pre-historic landscape of the Cúil Irra
region.
materialitie(s)
The gate-lodge at Doorly Park is the last existing structure
at Cleaveragh Demesne. Owned by Sligo Borough it had been
left vacant since 2001. I established a temporary studio in the
house for three months in order to research and make contact
with members of the community, keeping an online diary,
building a photomontage of the work and developing an alternative archive of the area gathered from the local community.
Joe Caheny (whose father James was an ardent fisherman, recorder and poet of the Islands on Lough Gill of which there are
nineteen) gave me valuable documents written by James that
had not been published and from which a ‘response drawing’
was made that mapped the islands of Lough Gill and published
a number of his texts in the book.
Another drawing series titled reconnaissance mapped the
interior of the gate-lodge, collecting cobwebs on sticky-plastic
that were then laid onto sheets of white cartridge. These drawings could be viewed as microscopic lines of detritus that had
accumulated as decayed absence.
I also invited a number of individuals to respond to ideas
and archives that I had collected during the research. These
included Bryonie Reed, cultural geographer, Terry O’Regan,
horticulturalist, and Ciara Healy, artist and bookmaker, whose
valuable contributions elucidated new readings of the landscape and suggested imaginative ways of re-engaging with
our environment in a more meaningful and eventful way.
www.christinemackey.com
www.pssquared.org/
Bryonie%20Reid.php
www.lai-ireland.com/terryoregan.html
www.ciarahealy.com
In conclusion
Cooperation
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The work that I developed for this project (partially reconstructed here) reconsiders the notion of ‘site’ as an open, transitory and mobile ‘circuit’ of pathways inclusive of the relational
patterns and activities of natural phenomena linked to human
production. The spatial composition of path-ways not only presents routes for walking as a method of research but also as
a creative means of mediating public exchange between the
artist and community, connecting past lives and landscapes to
the present day. The methodologies that I apply are varied but
I always began my research process in local and national libraries. Searching and drawing ideas from various documents
(press cuttings, books, magazines, publications and maps etc.),
speaking to people there, asking questions, findings names of
local people, making contacts, chasing people (but not harassing them), in other words, making time for people and giving
them time to respond. I tend to procrastinate a lot - and perhaps this ‘in-activity’ gives me time to think and in doing so
I can start to process and couple various ‘bits’ of information
together. From here, I began drawing connections that allowed
me the space to engage conversations with people. In this context, conversation is used as a guide or a way into place with
the people who inhabit a place and as a form of field research
through visual means. I rarely work with existing community
groups – but in fact prefer to meet people on a one-to-one
basis. Although this is a very timely process and often involves
numerous chats, the results are always richer, relationships are
developed and rarely are there any hidden agendas that one
has to deal with that may exist with established community
groups. I avoid politics but the work embeds a social agenda
that is not overtly visible. Connecting and coupling diverse
people – people who may not (and usually have not met or
worked with each other before) allows me to create new communities that exist for the duration of the project and in the
case of RIVERwork(s), made manifest in the publication. For
any data used, whether given to me by participants, archival
material or even new material that I generate from existing
material, sources are acknowledged. I rarely offer a fee, except
in cases whereby I am asking an individual to write a text – but
this is usually quite modest. My working process in general
could be described as a transitive response to different kinds
of journeys afforded between drawing and writing, thinking,
walking, and talking, in generating an understanding of the
complexity of place and people – a slow process that defocuses
the mind in order to enter new territories.
Funding for this project was provided through the Per Cent for Art Scheme drawn
from the remedial works for Garavogue Villas with additional support from The
Arts Council of Ireland and Sligo Art Gallery.
1
Y
H
RP
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M
E
H
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I
A
Ailbhe Murphy is a visual artist whose
collaborative practice has been based primarily within the community development
sector in Dublin. Projects include Unspoken
Truths (1991-1996), Once Is Too Much (19962000) and Tower Songs (2003-2006). In 2011
she completed her doctoral degree with the
University of Ulster, where her research focused on critical coordinates for collaborative
arts practice within the spatial politics of
urban regeneration.
In 2007 she co-founded Vagabond Reviews with independent writer and researcher
Ciaran Smyth. Vagabond Reviews combines
art interventions and research processes in
order to develop interdisciplinary trajectories
of critical inquiry into a range of socially
situated arenas of practice. Projects include
the Cultural Review a collaborative arts-based
research initiative conducted with the community development project Fatima Groups
United and The Arcade Project, a research initiative with the Rialto Youth Project, which
sets out to explore principles of practice for
an arts-based pedagogy in youth work.
Vagabond Reviews is currently completing
a Galway City Council Arts Office Per Cent for
Art commission with residents of the Sliabh
Ban estate Ballybane, Galway City.
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Ailbhe Murphy
My practice has developed mainly in the context of longterm collaborative projects, which require sustainable cooperations between artists, arts organizations, community development projects and their constituencies. I would say, it is a
practice defined by negotiation.
At the time of developing Tower Songs my interest lay in
the implications for communities of the extensive transformation of large-scale, public housing flat complexes in Dublin,
which were underway via major regeneration initiatives. I was
also interested in the attendant encounters between artists,
arts organizations, the community development sector and
residents of these flat complexes.
This complex matrix of cultural endeavour has tended to
waiver on the margins or to operate outside the established
art world systems of codification, ascription of value and modes
of distribution. I was interested in the possibilities for constructing viable critical coordinates, which could address the
range of socio-political, aesthetic, ethical and interpersonal
concerns that are activated through collaborative art practice
in specific community contexts.
[email protected]
Project Description: Tower Songs
From 2003 to 2006, I initiated and developed a long-term
citywide arts project called Tower Songs. Tower Songs set out
to make visible the collective memory and experience of a number of Dublin communities as they made the transition from
tower block living, via major urban regeneration initiatives.
My initial work was concerned with establishing the organizational and conceptual framework for the project.
This required negotiation and collaboration with a number
of artists, arts and community development organizations
nationally and internationally. These included the community
development project Fatima Groups United 1 and the Rialto
Youth Project 2 both in Dublin’s south-west inner city, Tenantspin 3 in Liverpool and Artibarri 4 in Barcelona.
From 2005 Tower Songs advanced as an inter-organizational
project, led by CityArts in Dublin. CityArts supported a dedicated
Tower Songs artist team which, from 2005 to 2007, comprised
www.publicart.ie/main/
public-art-directory/directory/
view/tower-songs/23dc95916c5
1967bc25989ea8cdce373/
http://a07.cgpublisher.com/
proposals/134/index_html
www.cityarts.ie/news/2009/
01/31/31_01_09_new-day
www.cityarts.ie/news/2009/
10/06/tower-songs-radio
-documentary-wins-award
www.cityarts.ie
Tower Songs,
performed by Fatima residents
with Sean Millar, Fatima
Mansions, June 2006
© Chris Maguire
Tower Songs,
The Goodbye Song,
Fatima residents with Sean
Millar, Fatima Mansions,
June 2006
© Chris Maguire
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99
of Brian Fleming (musician), George Higgs (composer), Sean
Millar (singer songwriter) and myself. In addition, the CityArts
Community Programmer Ed Carroll acted as a key community
liaison and support to the artist team. From 2007 to 2009
Brian Fleming led Tower Songs during which time Sean Millar
worked with the Ballymun Active Retirement Group and the
Ballymun Partnership, and composer Daragh O’Toole worked
with the Ballymun Music School. Over a period of four years,
from 2005 to 2009, the project realized a number of community-based performative events in flat complexes in the city,
which explored and articulated residents’ direct experience of
regeneration processes.
There was an emphasis in Tower Songs on documentation
and a focus on establishing a critical capacity as integral to
the project work. Both processes were essential to the project’s
capacity to build a shared analysis and to negotiate a complex
and multifaceted field of operation.
For artists’ bios see:
www.publicart.ie/main/
public-art-directory/directory/
view/tower-songs/23dc95916c5
1967bc25989ea8cdce373/
Tower Songs
A number of social housing communities in Dublin were
facing the transition from tower block living to low rise housing in the context of regeneration. Since the economic boom
of the mid-1990s these inner city flat complexes had become
the subject of large-scale regeneration programmes. Residents
were therefore undergoing profound changes in their social,
cultural and architectural landscapes. These extensive programmes of regeneration throughout Dublin had also given
rise to increased opportunities for artists to engage in specific
community contexts. At the time of developing Tower Songs
I was interested in how the transformations of these public
housing flat complexes had become in turn contested territory
within collaborative processes of dialogue and negotiation
between artists, arts organizations, community development
leaders and specific communities in Dublin. A central aspect of
establishing Tower Songs was not only to explore how artists,
youth and community development workers and their constituencies might collaborate in the context of a changing city
but also to explore the possibilities for constructing shared
evaluative coordinates to facilitate the project’s competency
Collaboration
Young people perform Buildings
Fall, written with Sean Millar,
Tower Songs, 2006
© Chris Maguire
Tower Songs,
George Higgs, Fatima
Mansions, June 2006
© Chris Maguire
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to negotiate and communicate the complexity and challenges
of its cross-sectoral work.
Because of the long-term nature of the project, I felt, it was
very important to identify and establish a sustainable organizational base. CityArts in Dublin had recently completed the
Civil Arts Inquiry, a two year review of the organizational and
conceptual basis of the organization. 5
My initial work on the project lay in the negotiations to
establish a core team, which would in turn reflect a sustainable
organizational framework made up of both community development and arts expertise. Both the Rialto Youth Project and
Fatima Groups United were very experienced in their respective
fields of youth work and community development. In late 2004,
early 2005 both became partners in Tower Songs. In its initial
development phase the Tower Songs artist team realized three
community-based performances in Rialto with residents 6 of
flat complexes in Dolphin House and Fatima Mansions. 7 Two
were held in 2005 in the context of Dolphin House and Fatima
Mansions Summer Festivals.
The third was held in Fatima Mansions in 2006 in the week
preceding the final demolition of the two remaining H and J
blocks. Fatima Groups United invited Tower Songs/CityArts to
contribute to a community-led arts process to mark this final
demolition of the flats. The planning of this event was a shared
endeavour between the community development team of
Fatima Groups United, the Team Leaders of the Rialto Youth
Project, the Community Programmer in CityArts and the Tower
Songs artist team including myself. An intimate promenade
event was devised with the primary audience being the residents, past and present of the flat complex with just a few invited guests in attendance.
On the night of the performance as the audience entered
the central square in Fatima Mansions between the last two
remaining H and J blocks, they heard soundscapes created by
the younger children in Fatima Mansions with ArkLink. 8 Then
the audience watched as composer George Higgs performed
his composition based on soundscapes he had gathered in
Fatima Mansions on his specially built instrument called the
Fatimaphone. In one of the vacant flats young people and youth
Sustainability
The close of the Tower Songs
performance, Fatima
Mansions, June 2006
© Chris Maguire
Tower Songs,
cellist, Fatima Mansions,
June 2006
© Chris Maguire
Tower Songs,
phase 1, Rialto 2005
© Tower Songs
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workers performed a song they had written with Sean Millar
(singer/songwriter) called Buildings Fall about their experience of change and of moving from the flats to housing. On
one of the balconies fourteen women, residents of Fatima
Mansions, accompanied by cello and violins, performed The
Goodbye Song, which they too had written with Sean Millar
about their memories of the flats. For two hours over 250
residents of Fatima Mansions journeyed through this cycle
of performances. As people left the performance space there
were a number of vox pop interviews done asking them for
their response to the piece and for their reflections on life in
Fatima Mansions. This latter Tower Songs event was part of a
communitywide leave taking of Fatima Mansions, which was
followed by a second evening of ritual and celebration called
Bury My Heart in Fatima Mansions.
The starting point for Tower Songs was one of negotiation.
These negotiations continued throughout the project, not just
in relation to the project coordination, the inter-organizational
collaboration and the distribution of resources, but critically
at the level of meaning, the meaning of art and the collective
development and ongoing shaping of an idea. The strategic development of Tower Songs evolved through inter-organizational negotiation. The artworks (performances) were developed
with residents who were the co-authors of the work. Their
engagement in the project was supported by the artist team
and crucially took place within an experienced community
development framework at local level.
There was an emphasis within Tower Songs on documentation and project review. Documentation took the form of
a visual and aural record of the project but also featured as
a mechanism to disseminate the work and ideas to other
potential partners. To this end, much work went into communicating the history and broader civic context of the project
and its work.
The review process for the first phase of the project was
coordinated by the Community Programmer of CityArts and
myself, as Tower Songs project leader, and was facilitated by
an external facilitator. The Tower Songs review process was not
developed using the language of formal evaluation. Instead,
Feedback
www.voxpop-media.com
For a film by Aoibheann
O’Sullivan about the 2006
Tower Songs Fatima event see:
aoibheann.net/film2007.html
Authorship
Feedback
Sustainability
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it was developed as a discursive process to allow the Tower
Songs artist team, CityArts and the youth and community
development partners to reflect on the artistic and collaborative challenges and rewards activated in the cross-sectoral
nature of the project. In the first phase of the project from
2005 to 2006 there were three different strands 9 to the Tower
Songs review process.
The review process served as an exploration of the different reference points and language, which might be shared
between the range of socio-political and artistic interests involved in the project. This process proved useful in providing
key moments of reflection to both celebrate and critically
review completed cycles of work, which tended to culminate
in a performance. The review process allowed the artists to air
some of the challenges they faced in advancing collaborative
work in community contexts and the community development projects to speak to the challenges of both working with
artists and of collaborating with the arts sector in general.
Questions of sustainability, responsibility, ownership and participation were explored individually as well as collectively in
this shared critical space.
Taking a broader view of collaborative practice, beyond the
specificity of Tower Songs, I feel the limits to advancing a complex organizational platform for collaborative projects between
artists, arts organizations and communities of place, should
also be examined. Might it be possible to widen the typical emphasis and interrogation on the negotiated inter-institutional
cooperations, which shape collaborative work to examine the
complexity of human interaction within a shared arts practice?
In the absence of critical frameworks, which adequately
address the complexity of negotiation in collaborative practice, I would argue that, critically, there can be a tendency to
accentuate the positive. This is a discursive self-limitation that
has serious implications for continuous learning and for the
sustainability of the practice generally.
Advancing a cross-sectoral, inter-organizational project
such as Tower Songs required time and different degrees of
strategic investment. In the context of considering the question of critical coordinates and with the benefit of some critical
distance I would characterize those strategic investments (by
the artist and their collaborators) as taking place across a number of arenas, which move from the macro to the micro. These
arenas correspond to four levels of description and I would
propose that each must be critically engaged with in order
to fully understand the structural and positional complexities
that come into play for this area of practice.
The Level of Macro Political Economy
What I mean by the macro political economy is the political,
economic and cultural conditions that together make up the
historical trajectory of a particular collaborative project. In the
case of Tower Songs, the descriptive investment and analysis
at the level of macro-political economy refers to the economic
conditions and socio-political context for the scale of urban
regeneration in Dublin during the 1990s into the early 2000s.
The Level of Micro Political Economy
By micro political economy I mean the structural frameworks which evolve through negotiation at the level of the
inter-organizational, cross-sectoral relations of collaborative
practice. This level can form a very complex matrix which
expands or contracts in order to intersect with different fields
of practice at various points in a collaborative process.
The Level of Group Process
A long-term collaborative project like Tower Songs resides
in the level of human relations, or in the performed social relations. Therefore the third level of engagement that requires its
own form of description and critical registration relates to the
territory of human interaction within a collaborative project.
The Level of Individual Experience
The persona of the unified artist with a secure identity as
author and producer of the work is not the model for the kind
of creative investment in collaborative processes. Instead, the
shifting roles and unstable identities of the artist and of their
co-collaborators is a defining feature of long-term, collaborative projects such as Tower Songs. Therefore the experience of
the individual artist within the collaborative network consti-
tutes a fourth level of critical reflexivity which requires both
description and analysis.
I think increasingly the work within any long-term collaborative project is to explore the potential of constructing
viable and shared critical coordinates such as those above, in
order to navigate the range of socio-political, aesthetic, ethical
and interpersonal concerns that become activated through
collaborative art practice in specific community contexts.
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Fatima Groups United (FGU) was established in 1995. With a strong emphasis on
Fatima’s social, cultural, physical and economic regeneration FGU’s aim is to address
and prevent poverty, disadvantage and social exclusion in the area formally known
as Fatima Mansions in the south-west inner city of Dublin.
See: www.fatimagroupsunited.com
1
2
The Rialto Youth Project was established in 1981 to provide an integrated youth
service to the Rialto area, based on the needs of young people at risk. In its work
with young people, the Rialto Youth Project places a strong emphasis on arts and
creative work. Advocacy in school and in the criminal justice system is an important aspect of the project’s work.
See: www.rialtocommunitynetwork.ie
Tenantspin is a community media project managed by the Foundation for Art and
Creative Technology (FACT), citywide tenants and Arena Housing, a registered Social
Landlord formed in 2001 and based in Liverpool. Tenantspin operates a webcasting
channel with live chat room facility that enables excluded citizens to partake in
democratic and cultural processes.
See: www.tenantspin.org
3
Artibarri is a Barcelona-based arts network for the development of creativity and
education through artistic expression. Citizen participation and community work
are guiding principles for Artibarri, which advocates art for social change.
See: www.artibarri.org
4
The Civil Arts Inquiry was a public exploration into the role of an arts centre in a
changing city, which involved all of the organization’s key stakeholders. This process
of critical reflection held out the promise of a potentially rich conceptual fit with
the goals of a project like Tower Songs and, in early 2005, Tower Songs became a key
project in CityArts’ community programme.
5
The invitation to become involved in Tower Songs was extended to residents directly
through the youth and community development network in the Fatima/Rialto area,
which in turn supported their ongoing engagement in the project.
6
Dolphin House, the largest social housing flat complex in the city, is located in Rialto.
Dolphin Decides, published in 2009, outlines the structure and the community
plan for the future regeneration of the Estate. In 2005 Fatima Mansions was in the
middle of an extensive regeneration programme. Now completed, the regeneration
delivered 150 public housing units for existing qualifying tenants, 70 affordable
dwellings, 396 private apartments and a state of the art neighbourhood centre to
accommodate community services along with a number of community recreational
facilities and retail and enterprise units.
7
8
ArkLink is an initiative of The Ark, a cultural centre for children.
For ArkLink pdf see: http://ark.ie/downloads/Arklink.pdf
9
Strand one brought the Tower Songs artist team together with the Rialto Youth
project team to review the collaborative work of the 2005 summer festival in
Rialto. Strand two focused on the Tower Songs interdisciplinary artist team. Strand
three focused on reviewing the 2006 Tower Songs process with residents in Fatima
Mansions.
IS
A
E
DR
E
TH
AN
Andrea Theis, born 1966 in Bad Marienberg (Germany), has worked as a freelance
artist and photographer since 1993, and also
as a lecturer since 2003. Her artistic practice
is primarily concerned with context-specific
interventions into everyday cultures in the
public space combining the elements of process, platform and participation. Since 1993
her work has been realized in both national
and international exhibitions as well as free,
self-initiated projects, including Caravan and
Satellite, BBK Niederrhein; FIX’ 11, Belfast; Convergence, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast and
Limerick City Gallery of Art (all 2011); Leben!
(Life!), Worpswede (2007) and OUT OF SITE,
Dublin (2006, 2007).
In 2009, Andrea began a practice-based
PhD research in Art with the University of
Ulster, Belfast (NI). She undertook training
in Open Space Technology, Cross-cultural
Competence as well as in Moderation and
Mediation in 2008 and 2009. From 2007
to 2009, she was Assistant Professor to the
MFA-Programme Public Art and New Artistic
Strategies at the Bauhaus-University Weimar,
where she had graduated with a Master of
Fine Arts in 2006 (including a guest semester
at the University of Art and Design Helsinki).
In 1994 she completed a Diploma in Photographic Engineering, specializing in photography, optics, film and video at the University
of Applied Sciences Cologne. Currently she
lives and works in Belfast, Cologne and Berlin.
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Andrea Theis, geboren 1966 in Bad
Marienberg, arbeitet seit 1993 als freischaffende Künstlerin und Fotografin; seit 2003
zudem als Lehrende. Ihre Arbeiten sind vornehmlich kontextbezogene Interventionen
in Alltagskulturen im öffentlichen Raum mit
den Komponenten Prozess, Plattform und
Partizipation. Sie werden seit 1993 in nationalen und internationalen Ausstellungen
sowie in freien, selbst initiierten Projekten
realisiert, beispielsweise im Rahmen von
Caravan und Satellit des BBK Niederrhein;
FIX’ 11, Belfast; Convergence, Golden Thread
Gallery, Belfast und Limerick City Gallery of
Art (alle 2011); Leben!, Worpswede (2007)
sowie OUT OF SITE, Dublin (2006, 2007).
2009 hat Andrea eine auf der eigenen
künstlerischen Praxis basierende Promotion
(PhD) in Kunst an der University of Ulster,
Belfast (NI), begonnen. Sie nahm 2008 und
2009 an Weiterbildungen in Open-SpaceTechnology, cross-kultureller Kompetenz sowie in Moderation und Mediation teil. Von
2007 bis 2009 war sie künstlerische Mitarbeiterin im Masterprogramm Public Art
and New Artistic Strategies an der BauhausUniversität Weimar, das sie 2006 als Master
of Fine Arts abgeschlossen hatte (mit Gastsemester an der University of Art and Design
Helsinki). 1994 erlangte sie ein Diplom als
Photoingenieurin mit der Spezialisierung
in Photographie, Optik, Film und Video an
der Fachhochschule Köln. Derzeit lebt und
arbeitet sie in Belfast, Köln und Berlin.
Andrea Theis
The situation is the catalyst, its context the material for
my artwork. I observe and react to underlying fault lines and
potential sources of friction. Using conversational, interactive
strategies and aesthetic settings which move between reality
and absurdity, I investigate, as observing participant, how people
handle unexpected situations appearing in their day-to-day
routines.
Every project means a renewal of my personal and artistic
sense of place, calling for a realignment of my own position
within a gridwork of socio-political coordinates.
The coherence of my work lies in its individual relation to
specific contexts. What links each project is the dialogue between the elements, factors and participants involved. It is an
ongoing process of action and reaction. The essence of art in
the public space is its intervention, its interference with people’s
Andrea Theis
Die Situation ist mein Anlass, ihr Kontext das Ausgangsmaterial für meine künstlerische Arbeit. Ich reagiere auf unterschwellige Brüche und potentielle Reibungsflächen. Mit dialogischen, interaktiven Strategien und ästhetischen Setzungen,
die sich zwischen Realität und Absurdität bewegen, untersuche
ich als beobachtende Teilnehmerin, wie Menschen mit unerwarteten Situationen, die in ihren Alltagsroutinen auftauchen,
umgehen.
Jedes Projekt ist verbunden mit einer erneuten, persönlichen und künstlerischen Standortbestimmung, verlangt nach
einer Neuausrichtung meiner Position im gesellschaftspolitischen Koordinatensystem.
Die Kohärenz meiner Arbeiten liegt in deren individuellem
Bezug auf den jeweiligen Kontext. Allen gemein ist das Charakteristikum eines Dialoges zwischen den beteiligten Elementen,
Faktoren und Akteuren. Es ist ein steter Prozess von Aktion und
Reaktion.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Left Luggage,
display case, Townhall
Tiergarten, Berlin-Moabit,
May 2007
© Florian von Ploetz
Left Luggage,
the Italian artist collecting his
drawings
Left Luggage,
lady leaving her bike
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everyday life, the way it challenges their boundaries. Art in
public arises unexpectedly; it is sometimes unwelcome, though
that confrontation should lead to a rewarding experience.
Such is the difficult nature of art.
As an artist operating in the public space, I must display a
high degree of responsibility when entering existing structures
as an outsider with the intention of eliciting a response. Therefore I consider respect to be imperative and humour a necessity.
Left Luggage
Left Luggage is a temporary facility in a display case placed
on the pavement. It offers each passer-by the free service of
storing their everyday luggage, while simultaneously investigating the phenomenon.
The project has so far been realized in Berlin, Dublin and
Belfast. The walk-in display case in Berlin is permanently installed in front of the Berlin-Tiergarten City Hall in the Moabit
Kunst im öffentlichen Raum ist dem Wesen nach ein Eingriff, der mit dem alltäglichen Leben der Menschen interferiert
und deren Grenzen überschreitet. Kunst im öffentlichen Raum
taucht unerwartet auf, möglicherweise ist sie nicht willkommen. Eine Konfrontation, die zu einer fruchtbaren Erfahrung
führen sollte. Dies ist das unbequeme Wesen der Kunst.
Als Außenstehende dringe ich in existierende Strukturen
ein. Das ruft wenigstens eine Reaktion, mitunter auch Widerstand hervor und verlangt von mir einen hohen Grad an Verantwortung. Daher betrachte ich Respekt als unerlässlich und
Humor als Notwendigkeit.
Gepäckaufbewahrung
Gepäckaufbewahrung ist eine vorübergehende Einrichtung
in einer Vitrine auf dem Gehsteig, die den PassantInnen die
kostenlose Aufbewahrung ihres Alltagsgepäcks anbietet und
gleichzeitig Feldforschung darüber betreibt.
Das Projekt wurde bisher in Berlin, Dublin und Belfast
durchgeführt. Die begehbare Vitrine in Berlin steht fest instal-
epäckaufbewahrung, 2nd - 9th
G
May 2007, Berlin, Rathaus
(Townhall) Tiergarten display
case, Mathilde-Jacob-Platz 1,
with Otto-Nagel-Gallery;
www.berlin.de/ba-mitte/
aktuell/presse/archiv
20070426.1430.76865.html
Left Luggage, 22 th - 25 th August
2007, Dublin, North Earl Street,
within the framework of OUT
OF SITE; www.outofsite.info/
archive.php?aid=13
L eft Luggage, 4 th - 9 th October
2010, Belfast, Fountain Street,
self-initiated, embedded in the
PhD project with the University
of Ulster; http://news.ulster.
ac.uk/releases/2010/5369.html
Gepäckaufbewahrung, 2. - 9. Mai
2007, Berlin, Vitrine d. Rathauses
Tiergarten, Mathilde-JacobPlatz 1, in Zusammenarbeit mit
der Otto-Nagel-Galerie;
www.berlin.de/a-mitte/aktuell/
presse/archiv/20070426.1430.
76865.html
Left Luggage, 22. - 25. August
2007, Dublin, North Earl Street,
im Rahmen von OUT OF SITE;
www.outofsite.info/archive.
php?aid=13
Left Luggage, 4. - 9. Oktober
2010, Belfast, Fountain Street,
selbst initiiert, eingebettet
in das PhD-Projekt an der
University of Ulster;
http://news.ulster.ac.uk/
releases/2010/5369.html
Left Luggage,
Dublin, North Earl Street,
August 2007
© Veronica Forsgren
Left Luggage,
a client stores his purchase,
a duvet, while the display
attracts passers-by
© Veronica Forsgren
Left Luggage,
client gives his mobile
phone for 15 minutes of
safekeeping
© Lian Bell
112
113
neighbourhood, where it is used for displays by associations
and schools. For Dublin and Belfast I had a specially designed
mobile display cabinet made for each city, with which I positioned myself each day in the same location – in both cases
a lively shopping street in the inner city. In all three locations,
I dressed like an attendant. I wore a uniform jacket with the
label ‘Left Luggage’ on my sleeve and my name on the front
pocket. A display stand indicated the opening times.
For several consecutive days, and for seven hours each day,
passers-by could decide spontaneously to leave their bags and
briefcases with me. In return for keeping their possessions
safe, I asked for permission to display the contents of their bags
in the glass case. The objects were taken out of the backpacks
and pouches by their owners, listed in detail by me on a form
and displayed together with this form in the display case. In
this way, they were visible to all and, simultaneously, under
public supervision. The private was made public, the belong-
liert vor dem Rathaus Tiergarten im Stadtteil Moabit. Sie wird
für die Präsentation von Vereinen und Schulen genutzt. In
Dublin und Belfast hatte ich eine, für jede Stadt speziell angefertigte, mobile Vitrine zur Verfügung, mit der ich mich täglich
am jeweils selben Standort – in beiden Fällen in einer belebten
Einkaufsstraße in der Innenstadt – einfand. In allen drei Fällen
trug ich eine pagenähnliche Uniformjacke mit dem Aufdruck
„Gepäckaufbewahrung“ bzw. „Left Luggage“ am Ärmel und
meinem Namen an der Brusttasche. Ein Aufsteller wies auf
die Öffnungszeiten hin.
Für mehrere Tage in Folge und je sieben Stunden am Tag
konnten die PassantInnen ihre Tüten und Taschen kurzfristig
bei mir aufgeben. Als Gegenleistung forderte ich ein, dass
der Tascheninhalt in der Vitrine ausgestellt würde. Die Dinge
wurden von den EigentümerInnen aus Rucksäcken und Beuteln herausgenommen, von mir in einem Formular detailliert
aufgelistet und mit diesem zusammen in die Vitrine gelegt.
So waren sie für alle sichtbar und gleichzeitig unter sozialer
Kontrolle. Das Private wurde öffentlich, die Habseligkeiten zu
Left Luggage,
Belfast, Fountain Street,
October 2010
© Liam Campbell
Left Luggage,
client watching all her
things being placed
© Sean Mallon
Left Luggage,
one of many bags opened
willingly in Belfast
© Sean Mallon
114
115
ings became exhibition pieces in a temporary, contemporary
cultural museum showcase.
Lessons from life on the street
These three related Left Luggage projects in Berlin, Dublin
and Belfast epitomize my art practice: they are interventions
that interfere in an immediate way with people’s habits and
behaviour patterns in the public space. The situation discovered, its phenomenology and occurences are the starting points
and raw material for my work. The questions inherent in the
intervention are complex and multilayered. By contrast, outwardly the intervention should appear simple and clear, low
key rather than spectacularly designed. The formal physical
appearance and the type of acting I have chosen are therefore
tied to the situation or, rather, they deal with the context,
insert themselves and ideally adapt to it, in order to simultaneously break from it.
Blurring of Art and Life, expanded edition, ed. by Jeff Kelley,
Berkley, 2003
Ausstellungsstücken in einem temporären, zeitgenössischen
kulturkundlichen Schaukasten.
Übers Leben lernt man auf der Straße
Anhand dieser drei verwandten Projekte lassen sich die
Kernmerkmale meiner künstlerischen Arbeiten beispielhaft
beschreiben: Es sind Interventionen, die unmittelbar in die
Gepflogenheiten und Verhaltensmuster von Menschen im
öffentlichen Raum eingreifen. Die vorgefundene Situation,
ihre Phänomenologie, die Vorgänge an einem Ort sind dabei
Ausgangspunkt und Material, mit dem ich arbeite. Die Fragestellungen, die der Intervention innewohnen, sind komplex
und vielschichtig. Das daraus resultierende Erscheinungsbild
des Eingriffs soll dagegen möglichst einfach und klar, eher
zurückhaltend denn spektakulär gestaltet sein. Seine formale,
physische Gestaltung sowie die gewählte Art meines Agierens
sind dabei gebunden an die Gegebenheiten oder vielmehr:
Sie beziehen sich auf den Kontext, fügen sich idealerweise in
ihn ein, um gleichzeitig mit ihm zu brechen.
Blurring of Art and Life, expanded edition, Hrsg.: Jeff Kelley,
Berkley, 2003
The showcase and its surroundings in Berlin-Moabit were
the catalyst for the development of the concept. Through the
invitation to Dublin I was able to test it out in an unfamiliar
cultural context, while I chose Belfast consciously for a third
implementation. During the height of The Troubles 1, security
checks 2 including bag searches were part of everyday normality.
Here, in the ongoing peace process phase, I was interested in
the reaction to an intervention which deals with voluntary insights into everyday luggage, and with transparency, security,
risk and trust.
The uniform that I wore was supposed to suggest a service
person or attendant. It underlined my apparently official position and inspired trust from passers-by. In Berlin, a number
of people assumed I was employed by the local council or the
BVG (the city’s public transport operator) and believed these
had now set up a lost property office in the display case. Some
people thought that my putative business idea was original,
Der Schaukasten und sein Umfeld in Berlin-Moabit waren
Anlass für die Entwicklung des Konzeptes. Durch die Einladung
nach Dublin konnte ich es in einem mir fremden, kulturellen
Kontext austesten. Belfast habe ich bewusst für eine dritte
Durchführung gewählt. Während der von großer Gewalt geprägten Phase des Nordirlandkonfliktes 1 gehörten Sicherheitskontrollen 2, verbunden mit dem Durchsuchen von Taschen,
zur alltäglichen Normalität. Mich hat hier in der gegenwärtigen Periode des Friedensprozesses die Reaktion auf eine
Intervention interessiert, bei der es um freiwillige Einblicke
in Alltagsgepäck, um Transparenz, Sicherheit, Risiko und
Vertrauen geht.
Die Uniform, die ich trug, sollte an eine Serviceperson oder
einen Pagen erinnern. Sie unterstrich den scheinbar offiziellen
Charakter und weckte in den PassantInnen Vertrauen. Nicht
wenige ordneten mich in Berlin dem Bezirksamt oder der BVG,
den öffentlichen Verkehrsbetrieben, zu und nahmen an, diese
hätten nun ein Fundbüro in der Vitrine eingerichtet. Einige
fanden meine vermeintliche Geschäftsidee originell, freuten
116
117
were happy with the market niche that I now filled and enjoyed the comfort the service could bring them. In Dublin, the
majority of passers-by assumed that the facility was the business idea of a small-scale entrepreneur. This interpretation fits
the image of a city that was developing rapidly at the time
and where hustle and bustle predominated in the streets. For
security reasons there are no left luggage lockers around Belfast. Only the tourist information office provides a left luggage
service, which is unknown to the majority of locals. Therefore,
my service idea was very well received, although I was given
numerous, concrete suggestions for improvement!
In each of the three cities there was a display stand providing information: ‘Left Luggage: Storage facility for all types
of baggage’ and the service times. There was no information
about prices. I explained the ‘terms of business’ to those who
were interested: I wanted an exchange. In return for storing
their items free of charge, customers had to consent to me
sich über die Marktlücke, die ich nun füllte und über die Erleichterung, die der Service ihnen bringen könnte. In Dublin nahm
die Mehrheit der PassantInnen die Einrichtung als privatwirtschaftliche Geschäftsidee einer Kleinunternehmerin wahr.
Diese Interpretation passt ins Bild einer Stadt, die sich in dieser
Zeit rasant entwickelte und in deren Straßen ein geschäftiges
Treiben vorherrschte. In Belfast gibt es aus Sicherheitsgründen
keine Gepäckschließfächer. Nur die Touristeninformation bietet
eine Gepäckaufbewahrung an, von der die meisten Einheimischen keine Kenntnis haben. Daher fand auch hier die Serviceidee großen Anklang, während mir gleichzeitig zahlreiche, konkrete Verbesserungsvorschläge unterbreitet wurden.
In allen drei Städten gab ein Aufsteller Auskunft: „Gepäckaufbewahrung. Annahme von Gepäckstücken jeglicher Art
(Storage facility for all types of baggage)“, dazu die Angaben
der Servicezeiten. Über Preise gab es keine Information. Die
„Geschäftsbedingungen“ habe ich im Gespräch mit den InteressentInnen erläutert: Ich wollte einen Tauschhandel. Die
Aufbewahrung war kostenlos, aber nicht umsonst. Die Kund-
Interactivity
Interaktivität
Sowa, Hubert: From an INFuG
Point of view – Notes on
Performance Art, Part 1 and 2
See: www.asa.de/magazine/
iss2/2infug.htm and
www.asa.de/magazine/iss3/
11hubert.htm
Sowa, Hubert: Vom INFuGGesichtspunkt - Bemerkungen
zur Ereigniskunst, Teil 1 und 2
Siehe www.asa.de/magazine/
iss2/2infug.htm und
www.asa.de/magazine/iss3/
11hubert.htm
118
119
registering the contents of the everyday luggage they left and
displaying them, piece by piece, together with the registration
form, in the display case. I attempted to dispel any scepticism
I encountered by highlighting the fact that the personal belongings would become subject to public supervision through
their open display. They would be placed in safe care.
The appearance of Left Luggage was credible and respectable. In essence, it showed something recognizable yet also
clearly distinct from the commonplace through its underlying
absurdity. The part that appears to be alien and unexpected can
be attractive yet confusing. The moment of surprise is perhaps
the most important element in my work: is the thing what it
purports to be?
In conversation with people, I debated the deviation from
their actual expectations when they read ‘Left Luggage’, and
what they learnt about it in talking to me. The immediate
communication is a key artistic method here.
schaft sollte sich damit einverstanden erklären, dass der Inhalt
ihres aufgegebenen Alltagsgepäcks Stück für Stück aufgelistet
und zusammen mit dem Registrierungsformular in der Vitrine
ausgestellt würde. Aufkommende Skepsis versuchte ich zu entkräften, indem ich betonte, dass die persönlichen Dinge durch
die öffentliche Wahrnehmung auch der sozialen Kontrolle unterlagen und sich damit in sicherer Obhut befanden.
Das Erscheinungsbild der Gepäckaufbewahrung wirkte
glaubwürdig und seriös. Es zeigte im Grunde etwas, das man
kannte, und doch hob es sich gleichzeitig durch eine unterschwellige Absurdität vom Gewohnten ab. Das Befremdliche
und das Unbekannte üben eine Anziehung aus und rufen Irritation hervor. Das Überraschungsmoment ist vielleicht das
wichtigste Element in meinen Arbeiten: Ist die Sache nun das,
was sie vorgibt zu sein? Die Abweichung zwischen dem, was
die PassantInnen eigentlich erwarteten, wenn sie „Gepäckaufbewahrung“ lasen, und dem, was sie von mir erfuhren, haben
wir im Gespräch verhandelt. Die unmittelbare Kommunikation
ist hier ein wesentliches künstlerisches Mittel.
When talking to passers-by, I usually avoid the term ‘art
project’ for as long as possible. The crucial word ‘art’ separates
the intervention from the mundane: being identified as art it
is considered to be zany, funny, playful, or, worse still, harmless.
So I remained close to the issues and argument of my intent:
Left Luggage is a service that is free of charge and simultaneously an exploration into the everyday luggage of people,
in which all passers-by can participate since the objects are
exhibited publicly.
The degree of participation and the role of the participants
is specific to each project and varies between the poles ‘voluntarily involved’ and ‘involuntarily confronted’, from ‘consciously
involved in a decision-making process’ to ‘unknowingly shaping’,
and from ‘specifically invited’ to ‘chance encounter’. Generally,
it is true that without the involvement of others, these interactive, participatory works would be incomplete. For Left Luggage, the project’s authorship rests with me. In this instance,
Gegenüber den PassantInnen vermeide ich den Gebrauch
des Wortes „Kunstprojekt“, so lange ein Hinauszögern möglich
ist. Durch das Schlüsselwort „Kunst“ wird die Intervention dem
Alltäglichen enthoben: Sie wird als spinnert, witzig oder spielerisch, im schlimmsten Fall als harmlos gewertet. Ich blieb also
bei der Sache und argumentierte mit meiner Intention: „Die
Gepäckaufbewahrung ist ein kostenloser Service und gleichzeitig eine Untersuchung über das Alltagsgepäck der Leute, an
der wiederum alle PassantInnen teilhaben können, da die Dinge
öffentlich ausgestellt werden.“
Der Grad der Partizipation und die Rolle der Beteiligten ist
projektspezifisch und variiert zwischen den Polen „freiwillig
involviert“ bis „unfreiwillig konfrontiert“, „bewusst mitentscheidend“ und „unwissentlich mitgestaltend“, „gezielt eingeladen“
und „zufällig hineingeraten“. Generell gilt, dass ohne die Beteiligung Anderer, die prozesshaften, partizipativen Arbeiten unvollständig blieben. Die Autorinnenschaft liegt in diesem Fall
bei mir. Die PartizipientInnen waren hier die Angehörigen der
Teilöffentlichkeiten, die sich im Kontext der Intervention be-
Participation
Authorship
Partizipation
Autorenschaft
Participation
Partizipation
Interaktivität
120
121
the participants were members of those segments of the
general public whose paths took them through the environs
of the intervention: the passers-by on the street representing
a cross-section of society, including locals and migrants, shoppers, business people and employers, petty criminals, strollers
and tourists. By chance, they were confronted with an artistic
intervention and could choose whether to participate or move
on. Participation took place on various levels, the first two of
which we consider here. The primary participants were the
people who accepted my offer, who entrusted me with their
everyday luggage and displayed their belongings. This was a
minority and they usually made their decision spontaneously.
Particularly in Berlin and Belfast, however, there were some who
planned to take advantage of the service, deliberately wanted
to show something in public, or consciously wanted to be part
of an art project (if they had identified it as such). In each of
the three cities, a few people came by frequently.
wegten. Es waren die PassantInnen auf der Straße. Sie bildeten
einen Querschnitt durch die Gesellschaft: Einheimische und
MigrantInnen, EinkäuferInnen, Geschäftsleute, Erwerbstätige,
Kleinkriminelle, Flaneure und TouristInnen. Sie wurden zufällig
mit einem künstlerischen Eingriff konfrontiert und hatten die
Wahl, ob sie Teil werden oder weiter ziehen.
Die Teilnahme fand auf mehreren Ebenen statt, von denen
ich zwei betrachten werde. Primär beteiligt waren die tatsächlichen Nutzerinnen und Nutzer des Angebots, die mir ihr Alltagsgepäck anvertrauten und ihre Habseligkeiten ausstellten.
Es war die Minderheit. In Dublin entschieden sie sich meist
spontan. In Berlin und Belfast jedoch gab es auch NutzerInnen,
die den Service einplanten, absichtlich etwas öffentlich zeigen
wollten oder bewusst Teil eines Kunstprojekts sein wollten
(wenn sie es als solches ausgemacht hatten). In allen drei
Städten kamen einige Leute regelmäßig.
Ein junger Italiener, neu in Berlin-Moabit, machte gleich
für seine eigenen Zwecke Gebrauch von der Ausstellungssituation und wandelte den kulturkundlichen Schaukasten in
A young Italian, new to the area of Berlin-Moabit, immediately made use of the exhibition space for his own purposes
and transformed the cultural museum showcase into a gallery.
He handed me five small drawings for storage. At first I was
indignant about the perceived exploitation, but in retrospect
I value his way of involvement as an original example of the
individual utilization of artistic platforms.
A form of secondary participation took place in the viewing
of the exhibited objects and possessions. Passers-by, curious
and attracted by the displays, stopped to look at the objects.
Frequently, a conversation then ensued between us. People’s
reactions were diverse and appeared to be shaped by their
respective social and cultural backgrounds. The most common
form of participation involved communication around the
question of what Left Luggage was all about. The conversation
could be brief or result in a lengthy discussion, which at times
offered me insights into handbags, life stories and world views.
einen Galerieraum um: Er gab mir fünf kleine Zeichnungen
zur Aufbewahrung. Zunächst war ich konsterniert über die
empfundene Instrumentalisierung, im Rückblick bewerte ich
seine Art der Teilnahme als ein originelles Beispiel für die individuelle Nutzung von künstlerischen Plattformen.
Eine Form der sekundären Partizipation fand in der Betrachtung der ausgestellten Dinge und Besitztümer statt.
PassantInnen, von den Auslagen neugierig angezogen, sahen
sich die Objekte an. Meist entwickelte sich darüber ein Gespräch zwischen ihnen und mir. Die Reaktionen waren vielfältig und schienen durch den sozialen oder kulturellen Hintergrund geprägt. Die vorherrschende Form der Beteiligung war
die Kommunikation über die Frage, um was es sich bei der
Gepäckaufbewahrung eigentlich handele. Sie konnte knapp
gehalten sein oder aber in ein langes Gespräch münden, das
mir bisweilen auch Einblicke in Handtaschen, Lebensgeschichten und Weltsichten gewährte.
An dieser Stelle vermischten sich meistens die Diskussionsebenen: Der Inhalt der Unterhaltung wechselte vom unmittel-
Interactivity
Foster, Hal: The Artist as Ethnographer, in: The Return of the
Real: The Avant-Garde at the
End of the Century, MIT-Press,
Cambridge, 1996, pp. 171-204
Coles, Alex (Ed.): Site-Specificity: The Ethnographic Turn,
de-, dis- ,ex-, Volume 4, Black
Dog, London, 2000
Sustainability
Foster, Hal: The Artist as Ethnographer, in: The Return of the
Real: The Avant-Garde at the
End of the Century, MIT-Press,
Cambridge, 1996, S. 171-204
Coles, Alex (Hrsg.): Site-Specificity: The Ethnographic Turn,
de-, dis-, ex-, Volume 4, Black
Dog, London, 2000
Nachhaltigkeit
122
123
At this point, the different layers of discussion usually became intertwined: the content of the conversation moved
from an immediate reference to the service offered by this Left
Luggage facility – the service’s parameters and function – to
the reception of and reflection on what actually lay hidden behind this investigation of everyday luggage. A discourse – influenced by the cultural context and historical background –
developed about possessions, encumbrances, coveting and
property, about trust and security, risk and responsibility as
well as the private and the public.
In my ‘job’ as a service provider, I am both agent and catalyst, while on a reflective level I am an ‘observing participant’ 3
as artistic researcher.
My own experiences of being on location are both a consequence and part of the artistic process, curiously similar in a
way to the experiences of the passers-by who are confronted by
the project. One conversation feeds into the next, and through
baren Bezug auf die Gepäckaufbewahrung – die Parameter und
Funktion der Dienstleistung – hinüber in die Rezeption und Reflexion dessen, was sich denn tatsächlich hinter der Forschung
über das Alltagsgepäck verbarg. Ein Gespräch über Habseligkeiten, Ballast, Begehren und Besitz, über Vertrauen und Sicherheit, Risiko und Verantwortung, sowie das Private und das
Öffentliche entwickelte sich.
In meinem „Job“ als Serviceanbieterin bin ich Akteurin und
Katalysatorin. In der Reflexionsebene bin ich als künstlerische
Forscherin auch „beobachtende Partizipientin“ 3. Meine eigenen
Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen in der Situation vor Ort sind gleichzeitig Folge und Teil des künstlerischen Prozesses ähnlich wie
dies für die zufällig konfrontierten PassantInnen zutrifft. Eine
Begegnung fließt wieder in die nächste ein. Durch die Auseinandersetzung wird der Denkprozess angefeuert und Erkenntnisse werden gewonnen. Das beeinflusst unmittelbar den weiteren Verlauf der Intervention. Hierin liegt vielleicht für mich
als Künstlerin der größte Reiz, jedoch auch die größte Herausforderung: In der Unmittelbarkeit der Kommunikation als ästhe-
these discussions, the thought process is fired up and knowledge is gained. Occasionally, this further stimulates the process
of the intervention. This is perhaps where the greatest allure,
but also the greatest challenge, lies for me as an artist: in the
immediacy of the communication as aesthetic form, in the dissolution of the boundaries between artist and recipient, in the
unity and intersection of artwork and its reception, the randomness of the encounters, the confrontation with the unpredictable and one’s own thresholds – all occurring outside of an
explicit art context. It is not only the ‘art’ itself that takes place
on the street here, but also the discourse.
When intervening in the public space, there are many
things I cannot predict, since chance is an essential element
of the process. It requires flexibility and frankness, experience
and self-assurance and the necessity of an emergency plan.
The more intensively I have dealt with the complexity of the
project’s contexts or the greater my knowledge of them through
tische Form, in der Auflösung der Grenzen zwischen Künstlerin
und Rezipierenden, in der Einheit und Wechselwirkung von
Kunstwerk und Rezeption, der Zufälligkeit der Begegnungen,
der Konfrontation mit dem Unvorhersehbaren und den eigenen Grenzen, im Stattfinden der Ereignisse außerhalb des expliziten Kunstkontextes. Nicht nur „die Kunst“ findet auf der
Straße statt, sondern auch der Diskurs.
Beim Eingreifen in den öffentlichen Raum kann ich vieles
nicht absehen, da der Zufall ein wesentliches Element des Prozesses ist. Das erfordert Flexibilität und Offenheit, Erfahrung
und Selbstsicherheit und auch einen Notfallplan. Je intensiver
ich mich mit dem auf das Projekt bezogenen Kontext und den
komplexen Aspekten auseinandergesetzt habe oder sie durch
eigenes Erleben kenne, desto besser kann ich die Ereignisse
voraussehen oder zumindest abschätzen. Solange ich mich in
dem mir vertrauten Kulturkreis bewege, fällt es mir leichter,
zu improvisieren. Die Überführung der Arbeit Gepäckaufbewahrung in den Kontext von Dublin hat deutlich gemacht, dass
ich die dortigen Alltagskulturen und Gesellschaftsstrukturen
Holeczek, Bernhard and Lida
von Mengden (Eds.): Zufall als
Prinzip, Braus, Heidelberg, 1992,
exhibition catalague
Schulze, Holger: Das aleatorische
Spiel: Erkundung und Anwendung der nichtintentionalen
Werkgenese im 20. Jahrhundert,
Fink, München, 2000
Responsibility
Holeczek, Bernhard und Lida
von Mengden (Hrgs.): Zufall als
Prinzip, Braus, Heidelberg, 1992,
Ausstellungskatalog
Schulze, Holger: Das aleatorische
Spiel: Erkundung und Anwendung der nichtintentionalen
Werkgenese im 20. Jahrhundert,
Fink, München, 2000
Verantwortung
my own experience, the better I can predict events or at least
assess them. As long as I move within the cultural context
that I am familiar with, it is easier for me to improvise. The
adaptation of the Left Luggage project to the context of
Dublin made it clear to me that my assumptions about the
everyday culture and social norms on site were very different
from the reality I faced. Things were different from Berlin. In
Dublin, for example, passers-by saw exhibited objects not as
possessions plainly belonging to other people but as objects
of desire, coupled with a sense of entitlement to those objects
which was taken for granted, as well as a flexible approach to
law and order. The execution of the project in Dublin involved
much greater risk, which only became apparent to me during
the course of the intervention. The responsibility that I assumed for the possessions handed over to me took on a different dimension. A shopping bag with three recently acquired
items of clothing ended up in the wrong hands. The loss was
im Vorfeld anders eingeschätzt habe, als sie sich mir dann darstellten. Beispielsweise wurden die ausgestellten Dinge von den
PassantInnen deutlicher als in Berlin nicht als Habseligkeiten
einer anderen Person, sondern als Ziel des eigenen Begehrens,
gepaart mit einem selbstverständlichen Besitzanspruch und
einem lockeren Verhältnis zum Rechtsbruch, gesehen. Die
Durchführung in Dublin war mit einem weit größeren Risiko
verbunden. Das habe ich erst im Laufe der Aktion realisiert. Die
Verantwortung, die ich für den abgegebenen Besitz anderer
Leute trug, bekam eine andere Dimension. Eine Einkaufstüte
mit drei eben erstandenen Kleidungsstücken geriet in die falschen Hände. Der Verlust wurde finanziell ersetzt, aber diese
für mich nicht vorhersehbare Erfahrung verdeutlicht das Muss
einer eigenen intensiven Recherche vor Ort, um den Kontext
und seine subtilen Spielregeln ausreichend zu verstehen und
dann den Handlungsrahmen für die Intervention entsprechend
festzulegen.
Die dritte Durchführung in Belfast hat von der Reflexion der
Erfahrungen in Dublin, der Kenntnis über Ort und Kontext wie
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125
financially compensated, but this experience, unpredictable
for me, clearly shows how it is imperative to research the
location intensively in order to understand sufficiently the
context and its specific, subtle rules of engagement, and to
then set appropriate parameters for the intervention.
The third realization in Belfast benefited from reflections
on the Dublin experience, from knowing about place and
context as well as taking advice from local authorities and
people knowledgeable about the area, prior to its execution.
For the period of the intervention I engaged a team 4 of five
people with whom I talked through in detail both the assignments and the parameters of action. There was always one
assistant present as a guard, forming a visible part of the setting. Two alternating photographers discreetly documented
what happened – they would also have been helpers in any
emergency situation – and another person filmed the scene
from an elevated viewpoint. Furthermore, to increase safety
auch den Vorgesprächen mit sach- und ortskundigen BeraterInnen und Verantwortlichen profitiert. Für die Dauer der Intervention hatte ich selbst ein Team 4 engagiert und die jeweiligen
Aufgaben sowie den Handlungsspielraum detailliert besprochen. Es war immer ein Assistent zur Bewachung als sichtbarer
Teil des Settings anwesend. Zwei Fotografen dokumentierten
im Wechsel diskret die Ereignisse, wären aber auch Helfer in
einem eventuellen Notfall gewesen. Eine Filmerin hat von erhöhtem Standpunkt aus die Szenerie auf Video aufgenommen. Weiterhin war zur Erhöhung der Sicherheit die Polizei
informiert sowie die Intervention neben einem Verkaufsstand
positioniert.
Durch Fortbildungen in Kommunikationstechniken und
cross-kultureller Kompetenz sowie die Verbesserung meiner
Englischkenntnisse konnte ich die Gespräche mit den PassantInnen jetzt souveräner und spielerischer führen.
Gepäckaufbewahrung lebt vom Spielraum für die Interaktion und braucht daher eine offene Grundstruktur. Die Balance
zwischen Offenheit und Kontrolle hängt ab von meiner Ver-
Cooperation
Kooperation
Eco, Umberto: Das offene
Kunstwerk, (übersetzt von
Günter Memmert), Suhrkamp,
Frankfurt/Main, 1977
Eco, Umberto: The Open Work,
(translated by Anna Cancogni),
Hutchinson Radius, London,
1989
I had informed the police and positioned the intervention next
to a sales stand.
Through my training in communication techniques and
cross-cultural competence, and the improvement of my English, I was able to conduct the conversations with passers-by
with assurance and lightness of touch.
Left Luggage lives through its scope for interaction and
therefore needs an open basic structure. The balance between
openness and control depends on my responsibility for the
safety of person and possession, my willingness to take risks,
and appetite for surprise. For artistic strategies intervening in
reality are also exposed to it.
antwortung für die Sicherheit von Mensch und Ding, meiner
Bereitschaft zum Risiko und der Lust auf Überraschung. Denn
künstlerische Strategien, die in die Wirklichkeit eingreifen, sind
ihr auch ausgesetzt.
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127
1
‘The Troubles’ refers to the period of the Northern Ireland conflict in recent British/
Irish history being characterized by a civil war-like situation which arose in 1968 in
part out of the campaign by Catholics in Northern Ireland for civil rights. > The Belfast
Agreement (The Good Friday Agreement) 1998 has played a pivotal role in the subsequent Peace Process.
>
CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) website: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/
incorepaper09.htm and www.belfastexposed.org/archive/index.php
2
In response to a significant increase in terrorist bombing, a ‘ring of steel’ was
erected in 1972 around Belfast city centre. Vehicles, including buses, and pedestrians could not enter or leave the inner city without being checked at one of
the few, tightly controlled, security segments. >
>
Brown, Stephen: Central Belfast’s Security Segment: An Urban Phenomenon,
in Area, Vol. 17, No. 1 (March 1985), Blackwell, pp. 1-9; www.jstor.org/pss/20002110
‘Participant observation’ describes a method of field research in qualitative research in social sciences, where the observer is consciously considered to be part
of the interaction being observed.
3
The Left Luggage Team Belfast consisted of Anthony Champa and Christoff Gillen,
assistants/guards; Liam Campbell and Sean Mallon, photographers; Fiona Larkin,
video filmer. In Dublin OUT OF SITE had provided and organized a team of helpers
as well as the display case. The cabinet for Belfast I had built by Martin Carter, the
Lawrence Street Workshops.
4
Als „The Troubles“ wird die von bürgerkriegsähnlichen Zuständen beherrschte
Phase des Nordirlandkonflikts in der jüngsten britisch/irischen Geschichte bezeichnet, die teilweise aus der Menschenrechtskampagne der Katholiken in Nordirland 1968 entstand. > Im nachfolgenden Friedensprozess spielt das Abkommen
von Belfast (auch Karfreitagsabkommen) 1998 eine zentrale Rolle.
>
CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) Webseite: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/
incorepaper09.htm und www.belfastexposed.org/archive/index.php
1
2
Als Reaktion auf den enormen Anstieg terroristischer Bombenanschläge wurde
1972 ein „Stahlring“ um die Belfaster Innenstadt herum errichtet. Fahrzeuge,
Busse eingeschlossen, und Fußgänger konnten das Stadtzentrum nicht betreten
oder verlassen, ohne in den wenigen, streng kontrollierten Sicherheitsschleusen
durchsucht zu werden. >
>
Brown, Stephen: Central Belfast’s Security Segment: An Urban Phenomenon,
in Area, Vol. 17, No. 1 (March 1985), Blackwell; S. 1-9, www.jstor.org/pss/20002110
Als „teilnehmende Beobachtung“ wird eine Methode der Feldforschung in der
qualitativen Sozialforschung bezeichnet, bei der die/der Forschende bewusst als
Teil der zu beobachtenden Vorgänge betrachtet wird.
3
Das Left Luggage Team Belfast setzte sich zusammen aus Anthony Champa und
Christoff Gillen, Assistenten/Wachen; Liam Campbell und Sean Mallon, Fotografen
und Fiona Larkin, Videofilmerin. In Dublin hatte OUT OF SITE ein HelferInnenteam
und auch den Schaukasten gestellt und organisiert. Die Vitrine für Belfast habe ich
von Martin Carter, the Lawrence Street Workshops, bauen lassen.
4
H
C
NS
U
W
E
B
SA
Sabe Wunsch was born 1964 in Stuttgart
and has been living in Berlin since 1985. In
1994 she gained her degree in archit-ecture
from the TU Berlin. She has been working as
an artist since 1999. With her short film wild,
set in a social housing area from the GDR
times which has since been demolished, she
graduated successfully from the Masters
course Art in Context at the University of the
Arts, Berlin. She works with the themes of
memory, public space, appropriation and identity. Together with other artists and architects
she has realized many projects including:
noc – anti war piece about the Kosovo war,
street theatre (1999); wohnpaste – 3. main prize
future vision housing competition, Linz (1999);
Sandhandlung, Temporäre Gärten, Berlin (2001);
Romantik in der Grube – interactive performance, Museumspark Rüdersdorf (2002); Posturbia – site specific performance, Gewölbe der
Schlossfreiheit, Berlin (2003); Lebenswege –
participatory school project and exhibition,
Museum für Kommunikation, Berlin (2006);
Sex-Zwangsarbeit in NS Konzentrationslagern –
exhibition, Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück and
Seoul, Korea (2007); ReVisioning the Virtual
Wall, exhibition, Galerie [DAM], Berlin (2009);
KontextSchule, courses in cultural education
for artists and teachers, Berlin (2009-11); Virtuelle Mauer goes school, participatory school
project and exhibition at Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin (2010/11). In 2010 she presented
her solo work heimgegangen in the framework
of the group exhibition das Leben lassen at
the Galerie im Körnerpark in Berlin-Neukölln.
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Sabe Wunsch ist 1964 in Stuttgart geboren und lebt seit 1985 in Berlin. 1994 schloss
sie ihr Architekturstudium an der TU Berlin ab.
Seit 1999 ist sie als Künstlerin tätig. Mit dem
Kurzfilm wild, der in einem mittlerweile abgerissenen Plattenbaugebiet spielt, beendete
sie 2008 erfolgreich den Masterstudiengang
Kunst im Kontext an der Universität der Künste,
Berlin. Sie arbeitet zu den Themen Erinnerung, öffentlicher Raum, Aneignung und Identität. Gemeinsam mit anderen KünstlerInnen
und ArchitektInnen verwirklichte sie u. a. folgende Projekte: noc – Antikriegsstück zum
Kosovokrieg, Straßentheater, Berlin (1999);
wohnpaste – 3. Hauptpreis future vision housing
Wettbewerb, Linz (1999); Sandhandlung, Temporäre Gärten, Berlin (2001); Romantik in der
Grube – interaktive Performance, Museumspark
Rüdersdorf (2002); Posturbia – ortspezifische
Performance, Gewölbe der Schlossfreiheit,
Berlin (2003); Lebenswege – partizipatorisches
Schulprojekt und Ausstellung, Museum für
Kommunikation, Berlin (2006); Sex-Zwangsarbeit in NS Konzentrationslagern – Ausstellungen, Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück und
Seoul, Korea (2007); ReVisioning the Virtual
Wall, Ausstellung, Galerie [DAM], Berlin (2009);
KontextSchule, Fortbildungen für Künstler- und
LehrerInnen zur kulturellen Bildung, Berlin
(2009-11); Virtuelle Mauer goes school, partizipatorisches Schulprojekt nebst Ausstellung
im Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin (2010/11).
In der Galerie im Körnerpark in Berlin-Neukölln
präsentierte sie 2010 im Rahmen der Gruppenausstellung das Leben lassen ihre Einzelarbeit
heimgegangen.
Sabe Wunsch
With my art practice I intend to reach people and, together
with them, open the doors to their own creativity, to historical
facts and to our possibilities for change. Most of the work has
resulted from teamwork with other artists and architects. Developing collective projects means carrying out, from the beginning, a strong, often very exhausting examination of the
objective and the applicable means. The continuing process
of regular discussion and a constant internal examination of
the idea, content and form, also secures a good premise for
the work to be able to hold its ground in public. The selection
of the medium and format: sculpture, video, installation, performance, drawings, model, is decided upon collectively and
varies according to the chosen themes and places, the people
involved and the skills of the participating artists.
Sabe Wunsch
Mit meiner Kunst will ich Menschen erreichen und mit ihnen gemeinsam Türen zur eigenen Kreativität, zu historischen
Fakten und zu unseren Möglichkeiten der Veränderung öffnen.
Die meisten Arbeiten sind im Team mit anderen KünstlerInnen
und ArchitektInnen entstanden. Das gemeinsame Entwickeln
von Projekten bedeutet von Anfang an eine starke, oft sehr anstrengende Auseinandersetzung über die Zielsetzung und die
dafür einsetzbaren Mittel. Auch im weiteren Verlauf gewährleistet die ständige Diskussion eine stete interne Überprüfung
von Idee, Inhalt und Form – eine gute Voraussetzung dafür, dass
die Arbeit in der Öffentlichkeit bestehen kann. Die Wahl der
Medien und Formate: Skulptur, Video, Installation, Performance,
Zeichnung, Modell wird gemeinsam entschieden und fällt entsprechend der gewählten Themen und Orte, der einbezogenen
Menschen und der Skills der beteiligten KünstlerInnen unterschiedlich aus.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Sandhandlung (Sand Action),
research and preparation,
Großräschen and Berlin,
summer 2001
© team ttt&t
participant interacting in
and with the installation,
Berlin, summer 2001
© team ttt&t
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Sandhandlung (Sand Action)
Sandhandlung (Sand Action) was our third collective project as team ttt&t (Gabimarie Cissek, Karsten Feucht, Sabe
Wunsch). This project contains different elements: collaboration (collective work), participation and interactivity, which can
be described and distinguished from one another particularly
well. Within the framework of Temporäre Gärten: Über die Lust
an der Verschwendung (Temporary Gardens: On the Desire for
Wastefulness) (2001) we realized the work Sandhandlung on
the top parking deck of a shopping centre in Berlin-Neukölln.
From this parking deck, the view is spectacular, and similar to
the view from the brim of the Lausitz (Lusatia) surface mining
pit. Berlin consumes enormous amounts of energy. One of the
bases of the production of energy is coal extraction in surface
mining, which results in a totally transformed rural landscape.
In the Sandhandlung project, interviews with residents of the
www.temporaeregaerten.de/
archiv/7menue/3archiv/05_01/
01_b/01_01.html
www.niederlausitz.de/
niederlausitz_eine_landschaft_
im_wandel.en.302382.html
Sandhandlung
Sandhandlung war unser drittes gemeinsames Projekt als
team ttt&t (Gabimarie Cissek, Karsten Feucht, Sabe Wunsch).
An ihm lassen sich die verschiedenen Elemente Zusammenarbeit (Gemeinschaftsarbeit), Partizipation und Interaktivität
besonders gut beschreiben und voneinander abgrenzen. Im
Rahmen der Temporären Gärten: Über die Lust an der Verschwendung (2001) haben wir auf dem obersten Parkdeck eines Einkaufszentrums in Berlin-Neukölln, die Sandhandlung verwirklicht. Von diesem Parkdeck ist der Ausblick, wie im Lausitzer
Tagebau an der Abbruchkante, großartig. Berlin verbraucht
riesige Energiemengen. Eine der Grundlagen der Energieerzeugung ist die Kohlegewinnung im Tagebau unter Zurücklassung
einer völlig veränderten Landschaft. In der Sandhandlung bilden
Interviews mit LausitzerInnen, die durch den Braunkohletagebau ihren Garten verloren haben, deren Gärten somit auch
„temporär“ waren, eine hörbare Brücke in die Lausitz. Abraumsande in ihren unterschiedlichen Farben und Strukturen, präsentiert in grellfarbigen, aufblasbaren Planschbecken, machen
www.temporaeregaerten.de/
archiv/7menue/3archiv/05_01/
01_b/01_01.html
www.niederlausitz.de/
niederlausitz_eine_landschaft_
im_wandel.302382.html
www.lausitz.de
participants interacting in
and with the installation
on the parking deck
© team ttt&t
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Lausitz (Lusatia) region who lost their gardens to surface mining, have created an audible bridge to the Lausitz. As a result
of this loss, the residents’ gardens were ‘temporary’ as well.
Overburdon sands with their different colours and textures,
presented in garishly coloured inflatable paddling pools, made
these changes tangible. For the most part, the spectators were
Berliners interested in art, but also young people who spent a
lot of time in the mall, and some of the employees of the shops
in the centre. The presence of the latter was very important to
me, because the top parking deck is a wonderful place, which
the workers of the centre could use for their breaks. Parking on
the top parking deck was not permitted because of an initiative
by the surrounding neighbours. During the exhibition phase,
the site development for the people at the shopping mall became more important to me and eventually stood on par with
the wish to impart Lausitz history.
www.lausitz.de
die Veränderung dort greifbar. Die BesucherInnen waren meist
kunstinteressierte Berliner BürgerInnen, aber auch Jugendliche,
die viel Zeit im Einkaufszentrum verbringen und einige Angestellte der Läden im Center. Der Besuch letzterer war mir sehr
wichtig, denn das oberste Parkdeck ist ein wunderbarer Platz,
den die Arbeitskräfte im Haus gut für Pausen nutzen könnten.
Das Parken von Autos ist dort auf Initiative der BewohnerInnen
der umliegenden Häuser nicht gestattet. Die Erschließung für
die Menschen vor Ort gewann während der Ausstellungsphase
an Bedeutung für mich und stand schließlich gleichberechtigt
neben dem Anliegen, die Lausitzer Geschichte zu vermitteln.
Interaktivität
Interaktiv war die Sandhandlung auf der Rezeptionsebene.
BesucherInnen konnten sich ein Interview aussuchen und
dann frei entscheiden, von welchem Standort und mit welcher
Aussicht sie zuhören wollten. Der Sand in den Bassins lockte
Kinder und Erwachsene zum Sandeln oder zum barfuß darin
Herumgehen an.
Interaktivität
Interactivity
Interactivity
In terms of viewer reception, Sandhandlung was interactive. Visitors could choose an interview and then decide from
which location and with what view from the parking deck
they wanted to listen. The sand in the pools attracted children
and adults to walk barefoot, or play in it.
Communication
The objective of this work was to transport a story; the
history of the transformation of the Lausitz and the life of its
inhabitants as a result of surface mining. It was good to get
to know the people of the lower Lausitz, to be able to record
their stories and to make these stories available to people in
Neukölln. Part of the concept of the project was for us to personally be on location at the Sandhandlung, and to enter into
dialogue with the visitors. As already described, the entire process of development was a communicative one. To work well in
Kommunikation
Es ging in dieser Arbeit darum, eine Geschichte zu transportieren: Die Geschichte der Veränderung der Lausitz und das
Leben ihrer BewohnerInnen durch den Bergtagebau. Es war
sehr gut, Menschen in der Niederlausitz kennen zu lernen, ihre
Geschichten aufzeichnen zu dürfen und diese Geschichten in
Neukölln anderen Menschen zugänglich machen zu können.
In der Sandhandlung selbst vor Ort zu sein und mit den BesucherInnen ins Gespräch zu kommen, war Teil des Konzeptes.
Wie schon oben geschildert, war der gesamte Entstehungsprozess ein kommunikativer. Im Team gut arbeiten heißt, gut
zu kommunizieren und solange über die strittigen Punkte
nachzudenken und zu sprechen, bis sich alle auf eine Lösung
einigen können. In all meinen Projekten geht es um Vermittlung und darum, auf verschiedenen Ebenen zu kommunizieren.
Die Kunst ist, gemeinsam für die verschiedenen Botschaften
und Rezipienten Ausdrucksmittel zu finden, die sich ergänzen
und nebeneinander bestehen können.
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a team means to communicate well and to consider and talk
about controversial points for as long as needed, until everyone can agree upon a solution. All of my projects are about
mediation and about communicating on different levels. The
art lies in finding means of expression both for the different
messages and for the recipients, which are complementary
and can exist side by side.
Collaboration
To date, this work is the last of several projects of the team
ttt&t. We have planned them as an equitable team of three
and we also share authorship. All of the decision processes
were conducted together. Sometimes, these were intense disputes about content and organizational issues, however, the
solutions to these issues have brought us a great step forward
each time. We were given feedback and encouragement from
the colleagues of the Temporary Gardens project.
Collaboration
Authorship
Feedback
Zusammenarbeit
Diese Arbeit war bislang die letzte von mehreren Projekten
des team ttt&t. Wir haben sie als gleichberechtigtes Dreierteam
konzipiert und teilen auch die AutorInnenschaft. Alle Entscheidungsprozesse wurden gemeinsam durchgeführt. Dabei kam
es zu teilweise heftigen Auseinandersetzungen auf Grund von
inhaltlichen und organisatorischen Fragen, deren Lösung uns
aber jedes Mal einen großen Schritt weitergebracht hat. Feedback und Unterstützung gab es von den MitarbeiterInnen der
Temporären Gärten.
Zusammenarbeit
Autorenschaft
Feedback
Partizipation
Unsere Interviewpartner, die nicht namentlich genannt
werden wollten, hatten einen großen Einfluss auf das Projekt.
Zum einen sind ihre Geschichten und Stimmen Teil unseres
Kunstwerks, zum anderen hat die Nähe, die während unserer
Arbeit mit ihnen entstanden ist, uns und unsere Sichtweise
beeinflusst. Sie hatten jedoch keinen Einfluss auf ästhetische
Partizipation
Participation
Participation
Our interview partners, who did not want to be mentioned
by name, have had a strong influence on the project. On the
one hand, their stories and their voices were a part of our artwork, and on the other hand, the closeness that developed
during our work influenced us and our views. They did not,
however, have any bearing on aesthetic decisions. The many
friendly helpers during the installation did not, in fact, have a
voice regarding content, but were ultimately directly involved
in some of the decisions regarding the aesthetic manifestation
of the Sandhandlung.
Sustainability
Sustainability
Something always remains. – Actually, I have few illusions
regarding the sustainability of our projects. Naturally, there is
room for hope that the work could give impetus for change or
new findings. It is, however, hard to prove that as a result of our
Entscheidungen. Die vielen befreundeten HelferInnen während des Aufbaus hatten zwar inhaltlich kein Mitspracherecht,
waren aber letztlich bei manchen Entscheidungen zur ästhetischen Erscheinungsform der Sandhandlung direkt beteiligt.
Nachhaltigkeit
Nachhaltigkeit
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Etwas bleibt immer. – Tatsächlich mache ich mir über die
Nachhaltigkeit unserer Projekte wenig Illusionen. Natürlich besteht die Hoffnung, durch die Arbeit Anstöße zu Veränderung
oder neuen Erkenntnissen zu geben. Doch ob nun jemand auf
Grund unserer Installation erkannt hat, dass der eigene Energieverbrauch anderswo Landschaft zerstört und daraufhin angefangen hat, Strom zu sparen, oder ob die mittlerweile etablierte
Nutzung des Parkdecks in Neukölln für künstlerische Aktionen
auf unsere Intervention zurückgeht, lässt sich schwer nachweisen. Ich denke, Arbeiten wie die unsere können auf Offenheit bei Menschen stoßen und im Glücksfall dann zu Erkenntnis und Handlung führen.
installation, someone has recognized that their own energy
usage destroys the landscape and has begun to save energy
as a consequence. It is also difficult to say whether the now
frequent use of the parking deck in Neukölln for art activities
is a direct result of our intervention. I think that works such as
ours could encounter an open mind in people, and with some
luck, could then lead to awareness and action.
Responsibility
As a matter of principle, I feel responsible. For the idea, the
completion and the quality of the work, the working atmosphere, the financing, the delivery, the presentation, the advertising, press relations, my charisma and that of my colleagues,
the good working atmosphere for the helpers, good food, the
mood of the visitors and a lot more. According to experience,
one person alone cannot take the responsibility for all that
and so, each time, there is the painful process in which we, my
Responsibility
Verantwortung
Ich fühle mich prinzipiell verantwortlich. Für die Idee, die
Ausführung und die Qualität der Arbeit, die Arbeitsatmosphäre,
die Finanzierung, die Ausführung, die Präsentation, die Werbung, die Pressearbeit, meine Ausstrahlung und die meiner
KollegInnen, das gute Arbeitsklima für die HelferInnen, gutes
Essen, die Laune der BesucherInnen und noch viel mehr. Erfahrungsgemäß kann eine nicht alles allein verantworten, und
so gibt es jedes Mal einen schmerzlichen Prozess, in dem wir,
meine KollegInnen, die oft ein ähnliches Verantwortungsgefühl
entwickeln, und ich, loslassen müssen. Wir sind verantwortlich
für den angemessenen Umgang mit dem uns Anvertrauten.
Bei der Sandhandlung sind das die Lebensgeschichten der LausitzerInnen, aber auch die zur Verfügung gestellten Räumlichkeiten, das Parkdeck, die Maschinen und die Sicherheit unserer
Gäste. Verantwortungsbewusst müssen wir auch mit unseren
Ressourcen und denen unserer HelferInnen umgehen. Aus den
Augen verlieren wollen wir auch nicht, dass künstlerischen In-
Verantwortung
colleagues and I, who often develop a similar sense of responsibility, must let go. We are responsible for the appropriate
handling of that which is entrusted to us. In Sandhandlung
this is the life stories of the Lausitzers, but also the premises
at our disposal, the parking deck and the machines and the
security of our guests. We must also deal responsibly with
our resources and those of our helpers. We must also not lose
sight of the fact that often, there is an innate aggressive force
in art intervention, to which passers-by and guests, in turn,
could react aggressively. This requires consensus among the
team about how to handle it.
Feedback
Feedback
As described above, teamwork requires good comunication,
and mutual feedback is an important part of this. It is not easy
to give and to receive good feedback after the completion of a
project. From my point of view, the media can rarely manage
terventionen oft ein eigenes aggressives Moment innewohnt,
auf das PassantInnen und Gäste ihrerseits mit Aggression reagieren können. Über den Umgang damit bedarf es guter Absprachen im Team.
Feedback
Feedback
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Wie oben geschildert, ist Teamarbeit Kommunikationsarbeit, und gegenseitiges Feedback ist ein wichtiger Teil davon.
Es ist nicht leicht, nach der Fertigstellung eines Projekts ein
gutes Feedback zu geben und zu bekommen. Die Medien
schaffen es nach meiner Erfahrung selten, Projekte inhaltlich
richtig darzustellen, selbst wenn sie vorab Pressemitteilungen
bekommen haben. Ich erlebe oft, dass harsche Kritik zu einem
ungünstigen Zeitpunkt geäußert wird. Hier wünsche ich mir,
dass FreundInnen und KollegInnen gut darauf achten, welches
Feedback das Gegenüber wann vertragen kann. So liegen zum
Beispiel bei der Vernissage oft die Nerven blank. Die Freude,
dass alles doch noch rechtzeitig fertig geworden ist, kann leicht
durch eine kritische Bemerkung zerstört werden. In solchen
to present the content of the project correctly, even when they
receive an advance press release. I often experience strong
criticism uttered in an awkward moment. Here I would like
friends and colleagues to be aware of what type of feedback
the counterpart can accept and when. So, nerves are often on
edge at the opening and the joy of having finished everything
on time can easily be destroyed by a critical remark. It is then
difficult to discern and accept the constructive part of the
criticism. However and in principle feedback is a welcome gift
helping to reflect one’s own concepts and develop further the
artistic practice.
Authorship
All members of team ttt&t share authorship of all joint
projects. The manufacturing costs and the proceeds from
sales were shared equally. If the work is referred to, all of the
colleagues must be mentioned.
Authorship
Momenten ist es schwer, das Konstruktive an der Kritik wahrund anzunehmen. Grundsätzlich ist Feedback aber ein willkommenes Geschenk, das hilft, die eigenen Thesen zu überprüfen
und die künstlerische Position weiterzuentwickeln.
Autorenschaft
Bei den gemeinschaftlichen Projekten waren stets alle Mitglieder vom team ttt&t gleichberechtigt an der Autorenschaft
beteiligt. Die Herstellungskosten und Erlöse aus Verkäufen
wurden zu gleichen Anteilen getragen bzw. ausgezahlt. Wenn
auf das Werk Bezug genommen wird, müssen die anderen
KollegInnen erwähnt werden.
Autorenschaft
G
G
HE
CIS
C
S
I
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FR
Francis Zeischegg, born in 1956 in Hamburg, lives in Berlin. She is a visual artist, art
mediator and teaches at the Art Academies in
Berlin, Halle (Saale) and Weimar. She studied
painting and visual communication at the
University of the Arts, Berlin, as well as social
sciences and education at the Technische
Universität Berlin (TU Berlin).
Francis has experience in exhibiting nationally and internationally. She has received
invitations to competitions for Art in Public
Space (prizes and realizations). She initiates
temporary projects in social spaces of action.
In solo projects, and in cooperation with colleagues and partners from other disciplines,
she has initiated free, process-based, participatory projects: with the artist group Teamwork (2002-04); with Gruber + Popp, architects,
Berlin; ST raum a., landscape architects, Berlin;
Kai Vöckler and Grete Peschken, visual artists,
Berlin; Prof. Susanne Lorenz, artist, Art Academy
Hamburg (2009); Juliane Laitzsch, drawer and
sculptor, Berlin (2007-12) and the Kunstverein
Tiergarten/Galerie Nord, Berlin. As part of the
artist collective 720° Raumhopping (2003-08)
with Raimund Binder (architect) and Patrick
Timm (sculptor), she initiated the large-scale
urban project Permanent Moving (2006).
Published documentation (publications
and videos) includes: Schnittstelle Kommunikation – Künstlerische Kommunikationsformen
in sozialen Handlungsräumen, a seminarreader, published by University of the Arts
Berlin (2006); Public Observation (2007) and
Permanent Moving (2008), both documented
as videos on DVD.
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Francis Zeischegg, geboren 1956 in Hamburg, lebt in Berlin. Sie ist bildende Künstlerin,
Kunstvermittlerin und lehrt an Kunsthochschulen in Berlin, Halle (Saale) und Weimar. Sie
studierte freie Kunst an der Universität der
Künste Berlin sowie Sozialwissenschaften und
Pädagogik an der Technischen Universität
Berlin. Sie stellt regelmäßig im In- und Ausland
aus. Unter ihren Beiträgen zu Wettbewerben
für Kunst im öffentlichen Raum sind zahlreiche
realisiert oder mit Preisen ausgezeichnet worden. Darüber hinaus veranstaltet sie temporär
aktive Projekte in sozialen Handlungsräumen.
Sowohl allein als auch in Kooperation mit
KünstlerkollegInnen und PartnerInnen aus anderen Disziplinen initiiert sie freie prozessorientierte, partizipatorisch angelegte Projekte,
beispielsweise mit der Künstlergruppe Teamwork (2002-04); mit Gruber + Popp, Architekten, Berlin; ST raum a., Landschaftsarchitekten,
Berlin; Kai Vöckler und Grete Peschken, bildende
KünstlerInnen, Berlin; Prof. Susanne Lorenz,
Künstlerin, Kunsthochschule Hamburg (2009);
Juliane Laitzsch, Berliner Zeichnerin und
Bildhauerin (2007-12) und dem Kunstverein
Tiergarten/Galerie Nord, Berlin. Als Teil der
Künstlergruppe 720° Raumhopping (2003-08)
mit Raimund Binder (Architekt) und Patrick
Timm (Bildhauer) initiierte sie das Stadtraumprojekt Permanent Moving (2006) in BerlinSchöneberg.
Zu den einzelnen Projekten sind Dokumentationen (Publikationen und Videos) erschienen, darunter der Seminar-Reader Schnittstelle Kommunikation – Künstlerische Kommunikationsformen in sozialen Handlungsräumen
(2006), als Video auf DVD Public Observation
(2007) und Permanent Moving (2008).
Francis Zeischegg
As artist, artistic mediator and lecturer I work at the interface of art education, urban planning and art in the social context. My work is performative-installative and partly participatory. In my projects, I tackle the question: ‘What is space?’ –
space as constructed shell, as social setting depending on the
context and the time-based dimension of a site as well as questions of the location that I occupy. Being raised in different
locations, in a number of buildings and very different social
contexts, I feel compelled to research forms of communication.
How do you communicate a spatial experience, how do you
translate this into a visual and conceptual language? My interest is based in a fundamental analysis of perception processes
in space, not only built or constructed space, but also social
space phenomena and spatial arrangements.
My active projects aim to create mock spaces in daily life
in parts of the city, that make visible and accessible for the
local public the massive changes of urban space- and environ-
Francis Zeischegg
Als bildende Künstlerin, Kunstvermittlerin und Lehrende
arbeite ich an Schnittstellen von Kunstbetrieb, Stadtplanung
und Kunst in sozialen Handlungsräumen. Meine Arbeiten sind
performativ-installativ und teilweise partizipatorisch angelegt. In meinen Projekten beschäftigt mich grundlegend die
Frage: „Was ist Raum?“ – Raum als gebaute Hülle, als soziales
Gefüge, abhängig vom Kontext und der jeweils zeitlichen Dimension eines Ortes. Darüber hinaus stelle ich die Frage nach
dem Standort, den ich einnehme. Selbst aufgewachsen an
wechselnden Orten, in diversen Gebäuden und sehr unterschiedlichen sozialen Kontexten, untersuche ich Formen der
Kommunikation. Wie wird Raumerfahrung kommuniziert, wie
in Bild- und Begriffssprache übersetzt? Mein Interesse gilt einer
grundlegenden Untersuchung von Wahrnehmungsprozessen
im Raum, nicht nur von gebauten Räumen, vielmehr auch von
sozialen Raumphänomenen und Raum(an)ordnungen.
Meine aktiven Projekte zielen darauf ab, exemplarisch Modellräume im Alltagsleben von Stadtteilen zu eröffnen, die den
www.franciszeischegg.de
www.franciszeischegg.de
Public Observation,
Permanent Moving,
Berlin, summer 2006
© Francis Zeischegg
Permanent Moving,
vehicle transport,
Berlin, summer 2006
Home Area,
Public Observation,
Berlin, summer 2006
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mental planning as well as regeneration of social space, which
are mostly triggered by politics and local community.
Public Observation
As part of the artist collective 720° Raumhopping (2003-08)
with Raimund Binder (architect) and Patrick Timm (sculptor),
I initiated the large-scale urban project Permanent Moving in cooperation with the visual artists Susanne Bosch (Berlin/Belfast),
Angela Lubic (Berlin), sound artist Thomas Gerwin (Berlin),
dancer Iris Sputh (Berlin) and architect Mathias Heyden (Berlin)
in 2006. We worked together for a period of two months with
young people of Berlin-Schöneberg, developing art projects
and interventions. These were presented like camps dispersed
in the urban space and in/around the DGB’s Union Office
building in the district of Schöneberg. My project within this
framework, called Public Observation 1, will be dealt with in the
following text.
www.raumhopping.de
www.angelalubic.de
www.thomasgerwin.de
www.spielkunst-berlin.de/
sputh.htm
http://cud.architektur.tu-berlin.
de/wordpress/?page_id=39
http://en.dgb.de
gewaltigen Wandel durch (Stadt)Raum- und Umweltplanung
sowie durch den Wechsel von sozialen Raumgefügen, welche
meist von Politik und Gemeinwesen ausgehen, der jeweiligen
Öffentlichkeit sichtbar und zugänglich zu machen.
Public Observation
Als Teil der Künstlergruppe 720° Raumhopping (2003-08)
mit Raimund Binder (Architekt) und Patrick Timm (Bildhauer)
initiierte ich das groß angelegte Stadtraumprojekt Permanent
Moving (2006) in Kooperation mit den bildenden Künstlerinnen Susanne Bosch (Berlin/Belfast), Angela Lubic (Berlin),
dem Soundkünstler Thomas Gerwin (Berlin), der Tänzerin Iris
Sputh (Berlin) und dem Architekten Mathias Heyden (Berlin).
Wir arbeiteten und entwickelten jeweils mit Jugendlichen
des Stadtteils Berlin-Schöneberg über zwei Monate hinweg
Kunstprojekte und -interventionen, die zum Abschluss Anfang
September 2006 campähnlich im Stadtraum wie auch in den
Räumen des DGB-Gewerkschaftshauses in Berlin-Schöneberg
präsentiert wurden. Das Unterprojekt Public Observation 1 wird
im Folgenden beschrieben.
www.raumhopping.de
www.angelalubic.de
www.thomasgerwin.de
www.spielkunst-berlin.de/
sputh.htm
http://cud.architektur.tu-berlin.
de/wordpress/?page_id=39
www.dgb.de
Permanent Moving (2006),
night observation,
Potsdamer Straße, Berlin,
Permanent Moving (2006),
day observation, Berlin,
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With the construction of a mobile ‘hunting blind’, commonly used in hunting and forestry, we wanted to make observation and surveillance in urban space publicly visible. We built
the object together in weeks and positioned the mobile vehicle,
‘a visual quotation’ taken from the world of hunting, at different places within the city, contrasting with the urban space.
Interested passers-by were given the opportunity to observe
their habitat from above, with binoculars, at different times of
day and night on the street, the schoolyard, the weekly farmers
market at Winterfeldplatz and on Wittenbergplatz, an urban
public space close to the Union Office building in Keithstraße.
The intention was to allow everyone to access and physically
experience surveillance techniques which would normally be
carried out secretly.
Thanks to the cooperation of landscape architect Stefan
Jäckel (ST raum a., Berlin), who is also a forest ranger and hunter,
we had the opportunity to observe the fauna in a forest near
Mit dem Bau einer uns aus der Forst- und Jagdwirtschaft
bekannten mobilen „Jägerkanzel“ wollten wir Beobachtung
und Überwachung im Stadtraum öffentlich sichtbar und erfahrbar machen. Das von uns in Wochen gemeinsam erbaute
Vehikel, die mobile „Jägerkanzel“, als aussagekräftiges Bildzitat
aus dem Landschaftsraum haben wir kontrastierend zum Stadtraum an wechselnden Standorten im Stadtteil aufgestellt.
Zu verschiedenen Tages- und Nachtzeiten auf der Straße, dem
Schulhof, beim Wochenmarkt am Winterfeldplatz und am
Wittenbergplatz, einem urbanen öffentlichen Platz nahe dem
Gewerkschaftshaus in der Keithstraße, wurde interessierten
Passanten die Möglichkeit gegeben, ihren Lebensraum einmal
von oben und durch ein Fernglas zu betrachten. Beobachtung,
die sonst meist heimlich zur Be- und Überwachung eingesetzt
wird, sollte so öffentlich und für alle zugänglich und physisch
erfahrbar werden.
Dank der Kooperation mit dem Landschaftsplaner Stefan
Jäckel (ST raum a., Berlin), der uns als Förster und Jäger ermöglichte, in den Abend- und Nachtstunden einmal in seinem
www.strauma.com
www.strauma.com
www.sophie-scholl-schule.eu
www.sophie-scholl-schule.eu
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Berlin from an elevated hunting box blind in the evening and
during the night hours. Thus, we could compare the different
behaviours in the urban and rural setting with their rituals of
observation.
Most young participants joined as the result of a contact
with the Sophie-Scholl-Schule. The students Carolin Wackerhagen and Marlene Herder created a questionnaire based on
the terms ‘district, territory, area and space’. They asked different age groups in the school to respond spontaneously to
these questions, which were then compiled into a text collage
entitled Revier Schöneberg (Schöneberg Hunting Ground). Without being afraid of judgement and curious to take part in an
art project, the pupils strove to provide original responses. This
text collage, which was then read by the young people in a
sound studio, could be heard during the final exhibition of
Permanent Moving as sound text in the mobile ‘hunting blind’.
It expressed a direct psychological profile of the spatial feeling
Waldrevier nahe Berlin auf Hochsitzen und Kanzeln die Tierwelt des Nachts und bei Anbruch der Dämmerung zu beobachten, konnten wir die verschiedenen Lebensräume in der
Stadt und auf dem Land mit ihren Beobachtungsritualen
vergleichen.
Die meisten TeilnehmerInnen fanden durch den Kontakt
mit der Sophie-Scholl-Schule ins Projekt. Die Schülerinnen
Carolin Wackerhagen und Marlene Herder verfassten einen
Fragebogen zu den Begriffen „Revier, Territorium, Gebiet und
Raum“. Zu diesen Fragen haben sie in verschiedenen Altersstufen der Schule Texte von SchülerInnen spontan schreiben
lassen, aus denen anschließend eine Textcollage mit dem
Titel Revier Schöneberg entstand. Ohne Angst vor Bewertung
und mit der Neugier an einem Kunstprojekt teilzunehmen,
bemühten sich die SchülerInnen um sehr authentische Äußerungen. Die Textcollage, die von Jugendlichen dann im Tonstudio eingelesen wurde, war bei der Abschlusspräsentation
von Permanent Moving als Audiotext in der mobilen „Jägerkanzel“ zu hören. Sie gab ein unmittelbares Psychogramm des
of young people in their ‘subcultural district’ and ‘private territory’ in the neighbourhood.
The cooperation with the young adults was shaped by their
voluntary participation in the project. They identified themselves strongly with it. Public Observation filled their lives in the
summer of 2006. The main incentive to participate was to
realize an idea together, but also to create something out of
nothing without money, to find a location for the building of
the vehicle, to find material donors, to search for locations to
set up the mobile ‘hunting blind’ in a public space, to get permission, for example to set it up on the weekly farmers market
(which was not easy). They had to trust themselves with unusual tasks, and cooperate with others. This, alongside the fact
that people of different occupations and age groups carried
the project with enthusiasm and energy, created a lasting
experience for the young people, which they later commented
on. For me, as an artist, the challenge was to trust the young
Raumempfindens von Jugendlichen in ihren „subkulturellen
Revieren“ und „privaten Territorien“ im Stadtteil wieder.
Die Zusammenarbeit mit den Jugendlichen war geprägt
von ihrer freiwilligen Teilnahme am Projekt. Sie haben sich extrem stark mit dem Vorhaben identifiziert. Public Observation
war ihr Inhalt im Sommer 2006. Besonderer Anreiz dabei zu
bleiben war es, gemeinsam eine Idee zu realisieren, das heißt,
ohne Geld aus dem Nichts etwas zu erschaffen, einen Standort für den Bau des Vehikels zu suchen, Materialspender zu akquirieren, Standorte für die Aufstellung der ,,Jägerkanzel“ zu
bestimmen, Genehmigungen einzuholen, z.B. auf dem Wochenmarkt (was nicht einfach war), sich ungewohnte Arbeiten zuzutrauen und dabei mit anderen zu kooperieren. Dies und die
Tatsache, dass Menschen verschiedener Berufe und Altersgruppen mit vollem Einsatz das Projekt mitgetragen haben,
machte die Erfahrung für die Jugendlichen, wie sie uns nachträglich berichteten, nachhaltig prägend. Für mich als Künstlerin
lag die Herausforderung darin, den Jugendlichen zu vertrauen
und sie als vollwertige Partner anzusehen. Problematisch sehe
Participation
Cooperation
Sustainability
Partizipation
Kooperation
Nachhaltigkeit
people and to look upon them as full partners. In retrospect,
I see my role as an artist problematic. There was not enough
long-term planning to enable the project to develop from a
‘Summer Workshop Setting’. It was difficult to break away from
my role as the leading artist. The only way to resolve this unequal relationship would have been equal cooperation among
all of the participants.
Three questions, three answers
Cooperation
www.patricktimm.de
www.raimundbinder.com
1. Do you cooperate with other people on specific projects or
for longer periods of time?
I have had very different experiences in cooperation with
different partners. I have realized several art projects in urban
space with Patrick Timm (sculptor) and Raimund Binder (architect) of 720° Raumhopping over a period of five years. One of
these is the described project Permanent Moving. We are a loose
group without a legal organizational form.
ich rückblickend meine Rolle als Künstlerin. Das Projekt war
nicht weitreichend genug angelegt, um aus dem „Setting
eines Sommer-Workshops“ herauszutreten. Meine Rolle als
tonangebende Künstlerin war nur schwer aufzubrechen. Eine
wirklich gleichberechtigte Zusammenarbeit wäre bemüht
gewesen, dieses Gefälle aufzulösen.
Drei Fragen, drei Antworten
Kooperation
www.raimundbinder.com
www.patricktimm.de
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1. Kooperierst Du mit anderen Menschen projektbezogen oder
längerfristig?
Bisher habe ich sehr unterschiedliche Erfahrungen mit
Kooperationen gemacht. Ich kooperiere in unterschiedlichen
Konstellationen mit verschiedenen Partnern. Mit Patrick Timm
(Bildhauer) und Raimund Binder (Architekt) von 720° Raumhopping habe ich über einen Zeitraum von fünf Jahren einige
Kunstprojekte im Stadtraum realisiert, u. a. das hier beschriebene Projekt Permanent Moving (2006). Wir sind ein loser Zusammenschluss, ohne rechtliche Organisationsform (wie ein
Verein oder ähnliches). Meine Jahre währende Zusammenar-
My long lasting cooperation with the landscape architects
ST raum a. (Berlin) was based on the development of competition designs and a short artistic cooperation with the group
Teamwork. In the rather politically motivated group of a Kiezinitiative (neighbourhood initiative) against violence in the
neighbourhood, I realized the project Keine Angst in Schöneberg
(No Fear in Schöneberg) (2001). I cooperated with a special needs
teacher, a teacher for illiteracy, an urban anthropologist, a
Turkish housewife as well as a Lebanese unemployed person
from our neighbourhood, throughout the entire process of the
project. The project addressed all social institutions as well as
schools of Berlin-Schöneberg and it continued for over four
years. It was extensively supported by a department of the
Berlin Senate Administration for urban development called
Soziale Stadt (Socially Integrative City) 2 and was bound to the
neighbourhood organization called Quartiersmanagement
Schöneberg 3.
beit mit den Landschaftsarchitekten ST raum a. (Berlin) bezog
sich auf die gemeinsame Erarbeitung von Wettbewerbsentwürfen und eine kurze Phase der künstlerischen Zusammenarbeit
in der Gruppe Teamwork. In dem eher politisch motivierten
Zusammenschluss einer Bürgerinitiative (Kiezinitiative) gegen
Gewalt im Stadtteil, mit welcher ich das Projekt Keine Angst in
Schöneberg (2001) realisierte, habe ich mit einer Sonderschullehrerin, einer Lehrerin für Analphabeten, einem Stadtanthropologen, einer türkischen Hausfrau, sowie mit einem libanesischen Arbeitslosen aus unserem Kiez über den gesamten Verlauf des Projektes hinweg kooperiert. Das Projekt, das sich an
alle sozialen Einrichtungen und Schulen Berlin-Schönebergs
richtete und über vier Jahre lief, wurde umfassend gefördert
durch Soziale Stadt 2, einen Fonds der Berliner Senatsverwaltung
für Stadtentwicklung. Es war an die Organisation des Quartiersmanagement Schöneberg 3 und die eines freien Trägers
gebunden.
Bei der Kooperation mit KünstlerInnen unterscheide ich
a) die zweckgebundene, interdisziplinäre Zusammenarbeit mit
www.juliane-laitzsch.de
Responsibility
Authorship
www.juliane-laitzsch.de
Verantwortung
Autorenschaft
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I differentiate how I cooperate with artists in: a) functional,
interdisciplinary cooperation with partners as e.g. ‘Per Cent
for Art’ competitions or for the development of an exhibition
project; b) the cooperation with artists as form of organization
for large-scale projects (in which I would cooperate in the
future with an arts association as legal partner) and c) the
thematically or media-based dialogical cooperation with
individual artist colleagues, for example my cooperation with
the artist Juliane Laitzsch.
For Permanent Moving I developed the project’s concept
together with Raimund Binder and Patrick Timm. We were all
accountable to our sponsors. Within that project, I developed
and accomplished Public Observation in collaboration with six
young people. The final responsibility for this project lay with
me. The question of responsibility is inherent in this form of
collaboration. I think this is always linked to who is liable, and
who legally signs. It is often not easy to speak of an equitable
PartnerInnen, wie zum Beispiel bei Wettbewerben für Kunst im
öffentlichen Raum oder bei der Entwicklung eines Ausstellungsvorhabens, b) die Zusammenarbeit mit KünstlerInnen als Organisationsform für großangelegte Projekte, bei welchen ich in
Zukunft mit einem Kunstverein als Rechtsform kooperieren
würde und c) die dialogische Zusammenarbeit mit einzelnen
KünstlerkollegInnen, thematisch, medial, wie beispielsweise
meine Zusammenarbeit mit der Künstlerin Juliane Laitzsch.
Für Permanent Moving (2006) habe ich zusammen mit
Raimund Binder und Patrick Timm das Konzept für das Projekt
entwickelt, durchgeführt und gegenüber den Vertragspartnern
verantwortet. Als Unterprojekt habe ich mit sechs Jugendlichen
zusammen Public Observation entwickelt und durchgeführt.
Die letztendliche Verantwortung für dieses Projekt lag bei mir.
Bei diesen Kooperationsformen stellt sich die Frage nach der
Verantwortlichkeit. Ich denke, diese ist immer daran geknüpft,
wer für das ganze Projekt haftet und verbindlich zeichnet. Es
ist dann nicht leicht, von einer gleichberechtigten Autorenschaft zu sprechen, wenn die objektive Verantwortung nur bei
authorship if the objective responsibility is only with a few. In
the case of Public Observation the circumstances were restrictive. To keep an art project open, when simultaneously securing
external funding and institutional back-up, is almost impossible. If artist initiatives manage to secure funding for a project,
then the funders usually have an influence on the project, its
content and objectives. The cooperation with associations creates similar obligations. The cooperation with a gallery creates
commitments, which could obstruct the freedom of action in
an open artistic process.
2. Do you work overtly or specifically in a participatory way
with people/groups of people?
Both. My projects aim towards communication and exchange about exemplary, conscious experience with space.
Either I cooperate concretely with certain people on a specific
project for a defined period of time, or I work openly and in a
dialogical way with people. I offer, for example, to a non-specific
Participation
Wenigen liegt. Im Falle von Public Observation war dieser Sachverhalt einschränkend. Die Offenheit eines Kunstprojekts zu
erhalten, bei gleichzeitiger finanzieller und institutioneller Absicherung, entspricht der Quadratur des Kreises. Wenn KünstlerInneninitiativen es schaffen, Gelder für ein Vorhaben zu akquirieren, dann haben die Geldgeberverbände anschließend
Einfluss auf das Projekt, Inhalt und Zielsetzung. Die Anbindung
an freie Träger schafft ähnliche Verpflichtungen. Auch die Kooperation mit einem Ausstellungsort, also einer Institution
oder ähnlichem, schafft Verbindlichkeiten, welche die Aktionsfreiheit in einem offenen künstlerischen Prozess behindern
können.
2. Arbeitest Du offen oder gezielt partizipatorisch mit bestimmten Menschen(gruppen)?
Sowohl als auch. Meine Projekte zielen auf Kommunikation
und Austausch über exemplarisch, bewusstes Raumerleben.
Entweder arbeite ich konkret mit bestimmten Personen zu
einem spezifischen Vorhaben in einem definierten Zeitraum
verbindlich zusammen, oder ich arbeite offen im Dialog mit
Partizipation
public, the possibility of testing themselves, taking part in the
art process and experiencing reality from another perspective
through performative installations in public space.
In both cases communication is important to me. In order
to achieve communication, I often use questioning as a formal
method, and use elements of survey methods common to social
scientists for the assessment of data. The questionnaires refer
to quantitative data collection procedures, whereas minutes
of actions, which I partially write, refer to qualitative inquiry
methods.
My projects often have dialogical or participatory elements.
Communication has an aesthetic quality for me. You are able
to motivate and animate by a participatory approach. These
impulses serve to enhance the aesthetic intenseness, perceptibly open spaces, which are then perceived with greater awareness. This is how many people, for example passers-by on the
street, have reacted to our Public Observation pulpit. They wanted to try out ‘the observation’ and observe their habitat from
Menschen. Das bedeutet, ich biete beispielsweise mit performativen Installationen im öffentlichen Raum einer unspezifischen
Allgemeinheit die Möglichkeit, sich selbst zu erproben, sich
also am Kunstprozess zu beteiligen und Realität ansatzweise
einmal aus einer anderen Perspektive wahrzunehmen.
In beiden Fällen ist mir Kommunikation wichtig. Um diese
herbeizuführen, benutze ich beispielsweise Befragungen als
formales Mittel und wende dabei Elemente aus Erhebungsverfahren an, wie sie in den Sozialwissenschaften zur Ermittlung
von Daten üblich sind. Die Fragebögen spielen an auf quantitative Erhebungsverfahren, während die Handlungsprotokolle,
die ich teilweise verfasse, auf die qualitative Erhebungsmethode verweisen.
Meine Projekte haben oft dialogische oder partizipatorische Anteile. Kommunikation hat für mich eine ästhetische
Qualität. Mit einem partizipatorischen Ansatz kannst du motivieren, animieren. Diese Impulse dienen der Verstärkung von
ästhetischen Intensitäten, eröffnen spürbar Räume, die bewusster wahrgenommen werden. So haben beispielsweise
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above with a pair of binoculars. They told us what they could
see from above, whom and what they recognized, and what
had changed in their environment. To experience that and to
reflect upon it in discussion clearly opened up new points of
view for some of them.
3. D
o you specify goals concerning the effect of the artistic
work in public space?
Goals with regard to the sustainability of the art projects
are on the one hand necessary and on the other dangerous.
Why? They are necessary because, unlike marketable works of
art, such as paintings or sculptures, the value of an art project
is derived from the meaning and long-term effect of an art
activity. Narrowly formulated educational goals and the conscious focus of art projects on sustainable impacts for nature
and environment can impede these types of spontaneity and
candidness that signify artistic processes. In art interventions
in public places that are designed to be participatory, the effect is important, as one is always dealing with living human
Sustainability
Feedback
viele Menschen – wie die PassantInnen auf der Straße – auf die
Public Observations-Kanzel reagiert. Sie wollten das „Observieren“ unbedingt ausprobieren und einmal von oben mit einem
Fernglas ihren Lebensraum betrachten. Sie teilten uns mit, was
sie alles von oben sehen können, wen und was sie erkennen,
was sich verändert hat in ihrem Umfeld. Das zu erleben und
im Gespräch zu reflektieren, hat bei Einigen ganz offenkundig
neue Standpunkte erschlossen.
3. Formulierst Du Ziele hinsichtlich der Wirkung der künstlerischen Arbeit im öffentlichen Raum?
Zielstellungen hinsichtlich der Nachhaltigkeit von Kunstprojekten sind einerseits notwendig und andererseits auch
gefährlich. Warum? Notwendig, weil sich bei Kunstprojekten
im Unterschied zu verkäuflichen Kunstwerken wie Bildern
oder Skulpturen der Wert über den Sinngehalt bzw. gerade
über die längerfristige Wirkung einer künstlerischen Aktivität
ableitet. Eng formulierte Bildungsziele und die bewusste Ausrichtung von Kunstprojekten auf nachhaltige Wirkungen für
Umwelt, Gemeinwesen und Stadtentwicklung können gerade
Nachhaltigkeit
Sustainability
Feedback
Nachhaltigkeit
154
155
beings, who react immediately and who directly confirm the
corresponding sustainability. In particular, here, you can achieve
the opposite effect, when artists throw themselves unprepared into a communication process in public space, without
previously having gathered experience in these processes. The
negative effects are inevitable and predictable.
For me, the drive for my artistic work in public space is to
get to know something about the action and communication
mechanisms of people in their designed urban spaces and to
make facts visible through artistic means, that would otherwise remain invisible. By intervening and communicating with
unusual, accessible observation architectures in the public
space, I aim to test, through action, new forms of art education
outside of what is happening in galleries and museums. The
content and goal of my teaching at art institutions is to reflect
these newly gained experiences with art in social spaces and
to make interaction and dialogue a subject in the seminar.
diejenige Spontaneität und Offenheit verhindern, die den
künstlerischen Prozess ausmachen. Bei künstlerischen Interventionen im öffentlichen Raum, die partizipatorisch angelegt sind, ist die Wirkung insofern von Bedeutung, als man es
immer mit lebendigen Menschen zu tun hat, die unmittelbar
reagieren und die die entsprechende Wirkung direkt rückmelden. Gerade hierbei kann aber auch eine gegenteilige Wirkung
erzielt werden, wenn KünstlerInnen sich unvorbereitet und
leichtfertig auf kommunikative Prozesse im öffentlichen Raum
stürzen, ohne damit vorher Erfahrungen gesammelt zu haben,
wodurch dann negative Wirkungen vorprogrammiert sind.
Ziel und Antrieb meiner künstlerischen Arbeit im öffentlichen Raum ist für mich, etwas über die Handlungs- und Kommunikationsmechanismen von Menschen in ihren geplanten
und gebauten Stadträumen zu erfahren und Sachverhalte
durch künstlerische Handlungsformen sichtbar zu machen,
die sonst unsichtbar bleiben. Indem ich mit ungewöhnlichen,
begehbaren Beobachtungsarchitekturen im öffentlichen Raum
interveniere und darüber kommuniziere, ziele ich darauf ab,
durch konkrete Handlung neue Vermittlungsformen der Kunst
außerhalb des Kunstgeschehens in Galerien und Museen zu
erproben. Die neu gewonnenen Erfahrungen mit Kunst in
sozialen Handlungsräumen auch in Seminaren an Kunsthochschulen zu reflektieren und dabei Interaktion und Dialog im
Raum zum Thema zu machen, ist Inhalt und Ziel meiner Lehrveranstaltungen.
Public Observation in the urban space is a project on the perception of urban and
rural landscape of Francis Zeischegg in collaboration with young adults, students
and alumni, of the Sophie-Scholl-School in Berlin-Schöneberg: Janina Graf, Marlene
Herder, Lucie Iser, Mats Mojem, Ronja Nazir, Carolin Wackerhagen.
See: www.sophie-scholl-schule.eu
1
Soziale Stadt (Socially Integrative City) is an urban development support programme for neighbourhoods with special development needs. It is fostered by the
Federal Ministry for Traffic, Building and Urban Development and the federal countries. The purpose of the programme is to create substantial social and economic
improvement in cities, and challenge the small-scale segregation of neighbourhoods which had been occurring since the 1990s. The programme tries to react
to the integrated approach of the integral neighbourhood/urban district development. >
>
www.sozialestadt.de/en/programm
2
3
Quartiersmanagement (Neighbourhood Management) (QM) is in charge of the
stabilization of the social cooperation in a neighbourhood by improving cooperation
through a wide range of completely different projects and initiatives. QM is established in the neighbourhoods, in which social problems are formative to people’s
lives and in which people might become excluded and suspended from the present
urban development of the city. Empowerment and participation as well as crosssector cooperation are core to QMs. >
>
www.quartiersmanagement-berlin.de/Neighborhood-management.1046.0.html
Public Observation im Stadtraum ist ein Projekt zur Wahrnehmung von Stadt- und
Landschaftsraum von Francis Zeischegg in Zusammenarbeit mit Jugendlichen (SchülerInnen und AbsolventInnen) der Sophie-Scholl-Schule in Berlin-Schöneberg: Janina
Graf, Marlene Herder, Lucie Iser, Mats Mojem, Ronja Nazir und Carolin Wackerhagen.
Vgl. www.sophie-scholl-schule.eu
1
2
Soziale Stadt ist ein Programm der deutschen Städtebauförderung für Stadtteile
mit besonderem Entwicklungsbedarf. Getragen wird es vom Bundesministerium
für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung und den Ländern. Eine zentrale Prämisse des
Programms ist ein massiver gesellschaftlicher und ökonomischer Wandel in den
Städten, insbesondere durch kleinräumige Segregation seit den 1990er Jahren, der
die Stadtteilentwicklung vor andere Herausforderungen als bisher stellt. Das Programm soll hierauf mit einem integrierten Ansatz der umfassenden Quartiersentwicklung reagieren. >
>
www.sozialestadt.de/programm
Das Quartiersmanagement (QM) kümmert sich durch verbesserte Zusammenarbeit und ganz unterschiedliche Projekte, Initiativen und Maßnahmen um den Erhalt
und die Stärkung des sozialen Zusammenhaltes eines Stadtteils. QM wird in den
Stadtteilen eingerichtet, in denen das Leben durch soziale Probleme geprägt ist und
die Gefahr droht, dass die Menschen mit ihrem Stadtteil von der gesamtstädtischen
Entwicklung ausgeschlossen und abgehängt werden. Empowerment und Partizipation sowie fachübergreifende Zusammenarbeit sind für erfolgreiches QM ausschlaggebend. >
>
www.quartiersmanagement-berlin.de und
www.quartiersmanagement-berlin.de/Lexikon.4213.0.html
3
156
157
158
159
Imprint
Copyright © 2012 the publishers,
authors and contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior
written permission from the publishers and
the copyright owners.
Notes on the publication
Texts for this catalogue have been provided
by the contributors as attributed. Texts
have been copy-edited for style, length and
consistency. The publishers, authors and
contributors have made every reasonable
attempt to identify the copyright owners.
Errors or omissions will be corrected in
subsequent editions.
1st Edition with a print run of 500
ISBN 978-1-905902-06-4
Published by
Interface: Centre for Research in
Art, Technologies and Design
University of Ulster
School of Art and Design
York Street
Belfast
BT15 1ED
Northern Ireland
Edited by
Susanne Bosch and
Andrea Theis
Contact
[email protected]
[email protected]
Book and cover designed by
Paul Kelly Design, Belfast
www.paulkellydesign.co.uk
Layout production by
Atelier für Mediengestaltung, Cologne
www.afm-koeln.de
and Andrea Theis
Translated by
Susanne Bosch,
Julian Earwaker,
Lisa Glauer,
Martin Simmonds,
Andrea Theis
Copy-edited by
Susanne Bosch,
Michelle Browne,
Ele Carpenter,
Fiona Larkin,
Grainne Loughran,
Kerstin Mey,
Pia Ritter,
Andrea Theis
Printed by
Dorman & Sons Ltd, Belfast
Acknowledgements
Thanks to all the friends, individuals and organizations who
contributed in bringing about this publication, including:
The artists and all our collaborators, partners, networks and
participants; all copy-editors and translators; Kerstin Mey;
Rolf Stehle; Paul Kelly; Frank Doering, Frank Günther, Tobias D.
Kern, Theo Hilgers, Andrea Otto, Marina Schwarzmeier and
the team of Atelier für Mediengestaltung; Grainne Loughran;
all the participants, supporters (Catalyst Arts Belfast) and funders (Community Relations Council, Interface) of the Summer
School Art in Public, University of Ulster (2007).
With generous support from Goethe Institut, Dublin
and Interface: Centre for Research in Art, Technologies
and Design, University of Ulster, Belfast

CONNECTION: Artists in Communication

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