Text: Adina Rieckmann · Photos: Yvonn Spauschus
We at the Kunstverein offer creative workshops for children from 3 to 99 as often as we can afford it as a small association. The artis Nadine Wölk often has her hat on for these long afternoons. With the patience of an angel, she crafts or paints with children or adults. Sometimes only a few people come to our stand at the Neustadt market, sometimes we are overwhelmed by the crowds. Whatever the case, we are simply there and don’t send anyone away.
Of course, we also offer these afternoons for our members with their children. But we are actually thinking mainly of the children from the main street, of the young and older residents in the unrenovated blocks of flats. In our neighbourhood, you can see many expensive cars on Königsstraße, whether Porsche, Maserati, Mercedes or BMW. But in the flats at Neustädter Markt there are many families with a migration background and many parents with their children who are barely making ends meet.
We sometimes see the children when we are setting up a new exhibition, then they drop by curiously, sometimes they even ask questions. For our adult neighbours, we are probably not that interesting. You can only look at art, there’s nothing to buy, nothing to eat, we’re not an office offering support, we’re just there. At least the homeless know that. Not only in summer do they make themselves at home in the Kunstquartier, they spend the night in front of our doors, not only in front of the Kunstverein, but also in front of the other neighbours, such as the galleries Stephanie Kelly, Ursula Walter, Gebrüder Lehmann or the Fotoforum.
In June, we again offered a creative workshop together with the Kultur Aktiv association. Only gradually did the tables fill up, but not with children, but mainly with adults. Listening, remembering, creating. That is the idea behind the Dresden Neighbourhoods. This creative workshop suddenly had something very special, if only because of the conversations. Complete strangers built houses together: Holger his city plan, Michael his houseboat, Anja her sustainable high-rise, Si her Chinese teahouse. Hannelore her neighbourhood block. Could you pass me the glue, please? And I need the ruler, please? And what are you actually building, a sustainable house? What does that mean, a sustainable house? And you, do you like living in your block? And why are you building a houseboat? What, you dream of living on the Elbe in a houseboat? Why? Ah! And what are your dreams?
Ah yes, we also had a look at art at the Kunstverein. The Tyrolean artist Micha Wille is currently exhibiting here. Weird figures, for example, supermen standing on their heads or a pink panther with crossed-out eyes. I like that, says Holger, and Hannelore is amazed that the colourful pictures are cheerful at first glance and yet also cause unease. Something is wrong, she thinks. Well, then it’s art, Holger explains, laughs and continues tinkering with his city map.
More information
Kunstverein Dresden e.V.
Neustädter Markt 8 · 01097 Dresden
Mail: contact@kunstvereindresden.de · Phone: 0160 525 48 59
Dresdner Nachbarschaften – sichtbar, vernetzt, engagiert!
Neighbourhoods are everywhere – we are right in the middle of it. With district walks, conversations in the green, creative workshops, exhibitions and much more.
Period
05-12.2023
Project coordination
Yvonn Spauschus (project management)
Yulia Vishnichenko · Moussa Mbarek · Nadine Wölk · Nazanin Zandi (workshop leader)
Rosa Brockelt · Rosa Hauch · Falk Goernert (moderation and documentation)
Cooperation partners
Club Passage / JugendKunstschule Dresden · Omse e.V. · Chinesisch Deutsches Zentrum e.V. · Treffpunkt Prohlis / Malteser Hilfsdienst e.V. · Stadtteilverein Johannstadt e.V. · Neues Volkshaus Cotta / Konglomerat e.V. · Montagscafé / Staatsschauspiel Dresden · Freizeitclub / Lebenshilfe Dresden e.V. · Quartiersmanagement Prohlis, Johannstadt und Gorbitz
Supported by
The project is funded by the State Ministry for Social Affairs and Social Cohesion. This measure is co-financed with tax funds on the basis of the budget passed by the Saxon state parliament within the framework of the state programme Integrative Maßnahmen.
