MEMORY ALIVE – Stories of Dresden Community

Our START guest student Hana Sebestova was able to successfully implement her small project MEMORY ALIVE – Stories of Dresden Community. In coordination with the team, she was able to combine her project idea with the Kultur Aktiv project yOUR Community. During two meetings there were different offers on the topic of memory work.

In October, a creative workshop was offered with the professional support of Hana Sebestova for the area of illustration and Sarah Rehm (Tell Your Truth writing workshop) for the area of creative writing. Using methods of creative, autobiographical and fictional writing, the participants were able to develop an artistic expression for their life stories. The memories and stories were written down and shared together in conversation. By looking at the personal past and the current situation in the present, they were able to become aware of the changes in their lives and also the commonalities – change. Building on this, the participants were able to share their visions for the future. The resulting picture-text illustrations will be used for an exhibition.

Just two weeks after the workshop, we were able to invite our cooperation partner at the difo – Dresdner Institut für Fortbildung to the vernissage. Workshop participants and other guests got talking while looking at the pictures. The exhibition can be visited in the entrance area of the difo until the beginning of January. Conceived as a travelling exhibition, further presentation locations are conceivable – primarily more or less public meeting places such as schools and cafés.

The topic of memory was taken up again in individual interviews. Hana Sebestova invited several volunteers to an interview. Questions again related to memories of childhood in the homeland, reasons for leaving or fleeing the homeland, and wishes and hopes for their own future. The interviews were documented with a film camera. The results will be processed into a project video.

In addition, a small photo workshop in preparation for Advent was offered on the evening of the vernissage. The participants created cards and pictures with wishes for friends and family for an online Advent calendar. 24 portraits of different people will gradually be put online from 01.-24.12.18.

Memory alive – Stories of Dresden Community is funded within the framework of START – Create Cultural Change. Kultur Aktiv is one of 30 German cultural institutions that offer Greek scholarship holders the opportunity to qualify in international cultural management in the programme “START – Create Cultural Change”. START is a programme of the Robert Bosch Stiftung, carried out in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki and the Bundesvereinigung Soziokultureller Zentren e.V., supported by the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation and the Bodossaki Foundation. Further information can be found at: www.startgreece.net