7
Moon day
CC’s arranged a meeting at the building of the Plauen Art Kollective (He’s shown me how to get there, it’s near the Sternquell brewery). Big doors, wide stairs and high ceilings. It reminds me of, it’s a cross between, a Glasgow tenement and a primary school art room – tables pushed together in the middle so everyone can sit around, konducive to kollective art action. The kollective has a floor it uses kommunally; they rent the space and chip into a kitty for shared materials; inks for screen printing, chemicals for darkroom developing etc. The ‘leader’ Anja gets paying ‘gigs’ which the kollective work on as a whole – kollectively, earning money together. Their kurrent kommission is making external graphics (in the style of E.O. Plauen) for the local kino, as part of making the main street look better, so called regeneration.
There is more than one art kollective in Plauen. Ines shows me around another building she has the keys for; the owner gave it to the town to up keep. This kollective is using the space to host workshops.
Ines confirms CCs assertion regarding the movement of people ‘west’, hence the quiet streets and empty buildings. I ask about the ‘west’ because it’s talked about in a way that suggests a divide is still there – geographically and psychologically. It is, doch! They, we’ve been joined in the beer garden drinking the local beer by Otto, ask about Brexit. Ich weiss est nicht! I voted to remain but tried to explain…
I’m pro people so their movement is a positive. Regarding not being able to speak a ‘local’ language I would argue we didn’t integrate enough and suggest all school pupils could spend a year in another country/culture.
Ines and Anja are making a visit to England (Leeds) in July – I suggest East St. Arts and invite them to Preston and The Birley.
Supported by a bursary from a-n The Artist Information Company.
