Corinna Vosse: Germany
Name of your organisation: Kunst-Stoffe
Website of your organisation: www.kunst-stoffe-berlin. de
How is your organisation funded?
Funding for the first nine month of initiating the organization from the Institute for Future Studies (Institut fuer Zukunftsstudien und Technologiebewertung)Since then we have established three areas of funding:
– Project related funds from various organizations (Local Arts Council, Eu-funded local projects, Department of Urban Development of the City of Berlin)
– Donations from users and supporters
– Earned income from the sale of products and services
Explain what your organisation is about (to somebody who does not know about it)
Kunst-Stoffe is a support structure for arts and creativity and a platform for artistic exploration of the secret dynamics of creation and limitation, exploring possibilities of sustainable living.
One main area of activity is collecting surplus materials and redistributing them to artists, creative practitioners and multipliers. That way Kunst-Stoffe preserves material values and supports cultural life by providing resources (material and workspaces as well). The range of materials available serves as a source of inspiration for artists of all fields.
Beyond that, Kunst-Stoffe aims to establish creativity as a daily practice. We offer a range of workshops where participants are encouraged to engage with a creative process and are introduced to various techniques. In this, the transformative potential of our range of surplus materials stimulates the imagination and fosters the embracement of creativity in daily life.
In addition, we engage with a broader audience by organizing thematic exhibitions and events, collaborating with artist of a variety of disciplines.
Using art as a medium, we provide environmental education as well, addressing mainly children and families. Our latest production is a performance piece with animated objects. The piece is next being shown at the Attension Festival in Laerz, Germany (www.attension.de)
Describe how your organisation is engaged in international cooperation and exchange.
Collaboration with Drap-Art, Barcelona (www.drapart.org). Drap-Art promotes creative recycling, through the organisation of festivals, exhibitions and workshops. Kunst-Stoffe produced a documentary film that features the work of Drap-Art amongst others. Kunst-Stoffe will be present at the Drap-Art 07 festival in Barcelona. A collaborative project taking place in Berlin is being planned.
Collaboration with Caravansarai, Istanbul, (www.caravansarai.org). A venue featuring interdisciplinary projects with a focus on forms of interaction – between people, with spaces and materials, virtually and in material life. Currently research is being conducted and exchanged upon garbage economies in the respective countries in order to prepare for a collaborative project.
Collaboration with Linkinart, Genua / Berlin (www.linkinart.org). A project aiming at an exchange of artists and architects who collaborate on utilising abandoned public space in urban environments. Currently an exchange is taking place between Genua and Berlin. Kunst-Stoffe provides the working platform for the group working in Berlin. A member of Kunst-Stoffe is meanwhile part of the intervention being realised in Genua.
Collaborations with re-use centers in other countries: Materials for the Arts, New York, Arts and Scraps, Detroit. Mutual visits, exchange of experiences and strategies
Various of the users of our supply of materials and workspaces work in an international context.
Describe how your art space relates to the local community. If you are about to open an art space, explain how you related to the local community in your previous experiences.
Kunst-Stoffe provides materials for creative practitioners and multipliers from all over Berlin. People can come at our opening hours, search the stock and select what they need. Beyond that, we provide temporary workspace: A woodshop, a metal shop and a studio equipped with sewing machines. When using the shop, people receive help and advice as needed.
Further, we invite classes and groups to visit the facility and experience the inspirational effect of the broad spectrum of materials. All ages are welcome to get inspired and use the workspaces to be creative or practice their art. We collaborate with various local schools and preschools who like to come for a few hours and use the opportunity to explore and experiment.
Especially during the warm season we host various cultural events, presenting a wide range of artistic approaches relating to issues of sustainability. Since our facility is located in a part of town that does not have many cultural spaces, the local community enjoys the fact that there is a new venue to go to in their neighborhood.
What are the major internal and external challenges your organisation is facing?
- There is a lack of monetary resources for ongoing expenses – most funds we receive are project related. We don’t have sufficient funds to expand according to the conceptual development of the project.
- We suffer from a lack of long term perspective on the premises – the facility is owned by the city of Berlin who intends to sell it, therefore our lease is short term and can be cancelled on three month notice
- There is a lack of continuity in certain work areas – most people don’t receive salaries, therefore there is a rather high fluctuation which makes it difficult to maintain the quality of the service.
What are the main achievements and strengths of your organisation?
With Kunst-Stoffe the first re-use center in Germany has been installed. The place has developed to be a platform where artists of all disciplines meet and find a support structure. Kunst-Stoffe tabs into new resources for the support of arts and creativity in times of declining public support.
The facility itself with its selection of things is an oasis of inspiration, an invitation to engage with creative forces.
Further, Kunst-Stoffe functions as a forum for artistic practice relating to questions of reuse and renewal and thus the bias of limitation and creation. With our own productions and in collaborations with artists and organizations we explore related subjects and bring them up to discussion, using different formats such as exhibitions, interventions, performance.
For the general public we provide a facility where things that are not needed anymore but yet have a value as a creative material can be handed over. Especially amongst private households and part of the service industry as well there is a strong appreciation for that. People show great interest in preserving things they don’t have a use for anymore – Kunst-Stoffe is a life platform for this exchange one can engage with. As such, it allows for the passing on of knowledge as well.
