Why co-working now?
- Because traumatic constellations intertwining lives, at times referred to as German and Polish, are not only legacies from the past. Today, we witness new traumatic experiences happening in an increased and accelerated manner, due to War and Expulsion close-by, and to other virulent problems that are topical along the Oder River. That is why we are inclined to speak of traumatic contemporalities. These need to be addressed here and now.
- Because we believe in the power of our art-research-curatorial-activist activities to soothe and maybe even to cure the traumata, i.e. wounds.
- Because we see the need of finding new formats for German-Polish encounters. There have been many settings being based on „inter“-constellations between two groups, and between two nations. We do not want to talk from two sides any longer. We believe there is a third perspective of the in-between that has not been taken up sufficiently, or not self-confidently enough. And we are not at ease in trusting in well-developed relationships as long as there is a tendency to focus on statistically high numbers of encounters. That is why we emphasize on the need to meet as partners that are not defined by where they come from but what they do, from a qualitative point of view on encounters, or on lives in the region of the Oder, and what they are interested in.
Why you?
- We come together by purpose as much as by accident, or just because of the desire to spent some good time in an appealing setting, out of which collaborative efforts can evolve; Katharina or Alina or a person close to us believes that you share an interest in the broad field that we are opening up.
- „We“ means all participants arriving for the week-end at Haus Neudorf; Alina and Katharina prepare some tools and materials and group discussion formats, but they are still participants as everybody else.
- All of us come from very different fields. It is great if we learn from each other, but we want to start without focusing on what has been already achieved (i.e. in our individual c.v.s and projects) or where we should be heading to (i.e. from our institutions’ points of view). It’s about a readiness to practice the here and now.
- Nobody is required to prepare any key-notes or other kinds of (self-)presentations and contents in advance.
What do we want to do?
- We want to experiment. It’s about getting and thinking together and allowing for good portions of enjoyment. We want to connect with people we like and appreciate.
- We want to work collaboratively – during this weekend and, if it turns out, in the future. (We consider ways of collaboration as something more than just cooperating between institutions, although that is beautiful as well, of course).
- We want to open up a new field that allows for unexpected connections – between thoughts, ideas, projects, people, professions, sources, objects, art works, etc. We try to do this by using the broad term of traumatic contemporalities and the nexus between care-work, curating and cure.
- We want to enter dialogical processes with you, while being interested in sketching out shared third perspectives. If it turns out we can reveal some overlapping fields of sensitivity and acuteness; and we can come to address some biases and blind spots
- We are interested in finding programmatic terms, or drafts, labels, and designs for this new field jointly.
- We want to find out under which circumstances our art-research-curatorial-activist activities develop the greatest effect on traumatic contemporalities.