ÜBER TAGE_07 art projects for the Lusatian Lake District
with contributions by Juliane Köhler (Dresden) and Stefan Schröder (Oslo) and the Kunstparcours
ÜBER TAGE makes its debut in 2007, its aim the careful integration of contemporary art into the Lusatian Lake District. Landscape is understood here as resulting from the interplay of the natural, cultural and social spheres.
The projects featured in ÜBER TAGE are less about autonomous artistic statements in the sense of classic Land Art (although this may be a source of inspiration), and more about a mix of temporary and more long-term comments on a setting that is subject to a process of constant change. Tourist aspects and the network of cycle paths will be creatively tied in with the planning.
In the long-term, the aim is to achieve local acceptance of and identification with the planned art projects, sensitizing residents to the potential of contemporary art and the permanent development of an art space. These factors played a decisive role in the choice of this year´s artists: their site-specific approach ensures active involvement of the visible and invisible transformations currently taking place in the region, and of local groups and initiatives. Viewers become co-creative users.
The topography of the planned landscape park is dominated by the Bärwalder See. On the bed of this lake lie villages evacuated to make way for opencast lignite mining. At the same time, Uhyst and Boxberg are becoming "harbour towns". Traumatization coexists with revitalization, the burden of the past with the opportunity of the future. Where such symptoms intersect, there are interesting possibilities for artists to realize work that contributes to regional integration while operating on the level of international contemporary art. In future, a significant role will be played by the involvement of artists from the two neighbouring EU countries, Poland and the Czech Republic, a regional strength that will be taken into account when planning ÜBER TAGE in years to come.
Location: Schlosspark Uhyst
For the park of Uhyst´s manor house, Dresden artist Juliane Köhler developed her project "Epiphyten/Aufsitzer" (Epiphytes). In this work, she marks the historical strata of the grounds and uses the old trees as pointers to the features, fauna and topography of the park. The intertwining of Baroque design, landscape gardening and the changes wrought by the 20th century is highlighted in a fascinating and sensitive way. Juliane Köhler´s red perspex creepers flower on the old trunks and are based on handwritten statements by Uhyst residents. This generated recognition and a reason for locals and visitors to rediscover the overgrown park, its beauty and its cultural value. The "epiphytes" grow along a path that begins at the Old Gate in the town centre, leading through a hall-like wood of old oaks, beeches and sycamores, over a small canal, and past surviving elements of the Baroque garden, ending near the empty manor house.
Further information on "Epiphyten/Aufsitzer" (Epiphytes) >>> Juliane Köhler
Location: Bärwalder See, Uhyst lakeside
With his project entitled "Handlungsspielraum" (Scope for Action), Stefan Schröder has installed a memory record in sculptural form along the Uhyst lakefront of the Bärwalder See. Concrete objects, somewhere between the shape of railway sleepers and outsize bones, are engraved with keywords like discover, resettle, depart, excavate, burn, fill in, etc., commemorating the history of the Bärwalder See between opencast mining landscape and leisure zone. The concrete objects recall archaeological finds that could be excavated and deciphered by future generations: for today´s users, they make up a gigantic treasure hunt that raises awareness of the local environment. The different locations could also become places for secret meetings ("Shall we meet later on at the word burn?") and thus act as points of identification and orientation in a landscape where such coordinates are only beginning to emerge. A game, then, involving the past, the present and the future of the Bärwalder See lake.
Further information on "Handlungsspielraum" (Scope For Action) >>> Stefan Schröder
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Pictures of the opening:
Saturday, 1 September 2007
Duration:
Until summer 2008
Curator/project management:
Susanne Altmann
Organization:
Volkmar Billig
Organizing body:
Zweckverband
"Landschaftspark Bärwalder See"
Funded by:
Zweckverband
"Landschaftspark Bärwalder See" |
