- – 14. Juli 2013 in der Kulturbackstube
Review
It’s been more than a month since the 22 participants (I was one of them) of the Seminar Project in Innsbruck parted ways but the “post-project-depression” seems to wear off very slowly and the “Innsbruck-blues” is still sung as our continuing communication shows. After more than a week of working together with and towards artistic approaches related to our main topic, the farewells were heartfelt and tearful, but left none of us with the feeling to have lost something. The experiences and connections made in the course of the daily workshops and during group activities in the spare time are what we take with us and what will hopefully inspire our future work. The following recap is of course very subjective and necessarily incomplete but it might provide a glimpse on the potential and the purposefulness of a project like this.
I met most of the other participants for the first time on the afternoon of July 6th, when we came together in Innsbrucks Krahvogl for a late lunch. Alberto, who works as a volunteer (send by EVS) for Die Bäckerei and who was essential in the organization of the project, coordinated the arrivals of the guests from seven different countries with the help of artist (and sunshine) in residence Ines and our dear volunteers. So when I entered the inner courtyard of the restaurant I saw this colorful group of people sitting there, conversing with each other in a confusion of Spanish, English and French and one of my first thoughts must have been: “How will I be able to remember all their names?” Of course I did and so did everybody else, which wasn't least due to Joanna, our dedicated and experienced project-coordinator, who provided playful ways of introducing the present people and the topical concept.
The Seminar Programm officially started on the morning of july 7th – Yes, on a Sunday. After we've became acquainted with each other and each other’s work we invested a lot of time in discussing and organizing the program for the rest of the week, as it included workshops by residential artists as well as by the participants themselves. Later this day our group visited the paint-the-street-festival together, where some of the graphically working artists – like Megi and Franck, illustrators from France - immediately started to create chalk paintings. (just take a look at the gallery below). Following a tour of Innsbrucks center the evening was spent together dancing and talking at a Swing-Concert of the Los Brillos in the Treibhaus.
The second day started with getting to know Die Bäckerei – spatially and conceptually – led by the Tour guide of our trust, one of the founders of the place and co-organizer of the Seminar Project: Christoph. Inspired by the idea and its realization some participants already began to think about the possibilities of a place like this in their hometowns. As the evaluation at the end of the week should well prove: Everyone fell in love with Die Bäckerei. After a great and healthy lunch (which was, like dinner, provided by different, non participating volunteers from Innsbruck everyday) we visited the impressing exhibition Urbane Folklore! in Innsbrucks Kunstraum, where we enjoyed an elaborate guided tour. -But the day wasn’t yet over: Illustrators Megi and Franck initiated in cooperation with painter Matias the painting of a 10 meter long rural on a clamping plate which allowed everyone to express him- or herself on a lasting graphic artwork. The activity went on after dinner and some of the artists kept painting in the back hall of Die Bäckerei until midnight and then joinded th others who rested or had vibrant conversations over a local beer in the Café.
Tuesday morning was about the theoretical and practical implications of the many-faceted concept: Urban Interventions for Social Inclusion. Whereas there definitely was a common denominator among the individual definitions of “Urban Interventions” and the understandings of “Social Inclusion” it was also obvious that different artistic backgrounds and experiences necessarily shaped different perspectives. We soon realized that in the given time we’re only able to grasp parts of these big and fluid conceptions but with the help of July, who recently wrote her diploma on street art, we were able to locate and define Urban Interventions within street art and, in succession, to discuss the possibilities of this kind of approach in relation to Social Inclusion. The afternoon was reserved for the sculpture workshop of x04x, an artist who has his atelier in the Bäckerei. In the Kreativraum, on the top floor of the building, 20 people were sitting around a big table, working on their creatures build from electronic trash, guided by x04s´ instructions. Afterwards we all spray-painted the almost bionic-appearing and insect-resembling sculptures themselves in screaming colors.
On Wednesday we were free to spend our time in any way we want. Some met during the day to go hiking and swimming and everybody came together again for a big (and late) barbecue on the top Deck of Die Bäckerei. Connections were made between the local artists who work in and around the place and the Seminar attendees (who by the way spanned an age range from 19 to 44 years old).
Thursdays’ program included several workshops that overlapped and intertwined. Seb from France (born in London) gave us some theoretical input on the reading of images and at the same time suggested a presentation suitable for a younger audience. Marietta and Alvaro from Spain introduced us to a simple but effective street-art-fitting method of bill-sticking that they usually explore with mentally handicapped artists at their place of work in Berlin. Laura and Lore from Romania presented inspiring (street-) artistic approaches that work with simplified pictures and with text, followed by The Copycats - an artist collective consisting of Yvonne, Asol and myself – who worked on a self-made projector that should make it possible to screen and also to overlay everyone’s photographs, illustrations, paintings and texts relating to our seminar topic. On this evening we provided our food ourselves, celebrating an intercultural feast that will last in our memories – not just because of the great and versatile dinner, but because of the breathtaking performances of Betty who sang and played the guitar for us, of Alessia, who showed an impressive, dance-focused act and of Dominika and Katka, who combined (self-composed) sound and intensive acting in their performance.
Friday was reserved for Performance-Art-Workshops. Eva and Alessia worked with us on our improvising skills and on using our bodies in performing. They even took the group outside to the Rapoldipark where the passers-by seemed to appreciate the artistic variation of their usual walk in the Park. Opera-singer Dominika helped us to find and use our voices in her workshop, offering personal assistance and essential advice that especially the singers within the participants happily absorbed.
Saturday, the last day of seminar program, started with a workshop by composer Matej who made the attending members of the group his orchestra and conducted a great concert at the end of just an hour. Subsequently we finally discussed our possibilities and ideas for a spontaneous urban intervention and decided on a guided performance using our “group-body” and “group-voice”. So at about four o clock in the afternoon our versatile group was in the Middle of Innsbrucks Maria-Thereseien-Straße, making noises while dancing and circling our more performance-experienced artists, who demonstrated actions that the others imitated. Several people on the street enjoyed the show, but two young men even got inspired and surprisingly joined the action – it seemed they really got the “Inclusion-part”! As it happened, this Saturday was also Albertos birthday and to celebrate, we wanted to spend the night at the Wetterleuchten-Festival. So all the participants met again, only hours after the final performance, to take the cable car together - Packing a lot of food and drinks to last during the night. After thirty minutes of waiting we’ve reached the end of the queue at the Hungerburgstation just to be told that there are only 5 more tickets for sale. Of course a group like ours is not discouraged by unlucky circumstances and after a short hike we found the perfect place for a picnic in the forest. We enjoyed a great buffet and also the presence of fireflies, which some of us saw live for the first time. As the night was still young and nobody was yet ready to part, we returned to the the city-center together, trying to think of a place, that allowed us to sit outside at this time of night. We’ve ended up having a great time at the Bar Moskau, dancing and singing Karaoke for hours …. before we finally had to part ways.
Alberto, Ines, Flo, Christoph, Joanna, July, Eva, Yvonne, Asol, Lore, Laura, Matej, Katka, Betty, Dominika, Seb, Alvaro, Marietta, Crispis, Rosasa, Megi, Franck, Alessia, Lucia – Thanks for a really great time! Thank you to everyone in die Bäckerei, Thank you X04X for the workshop, Thank you, you lovely cooks and/or volunteers….and everyone who I might have forgotten now.
By the way – all the great photographs and videos of this project you find in the gallery were made by Ines Bermejo – Thank you again!
