In recent years in have drawn great inspiration from the work of artists such as Jeanne Van Heswick and Britt Jurgensen, while engaging with projects they have been instrumental in such as 2up2down/ Homebaked in Liverpool. I wanted to take the opportunity of this travel bursary to visit some other long term projects that also explore creative and participatory urban renewal, but manifest differently in response to the specifics of their location and social context.
I spent several days at Parkwerk, a project ongoing since 2014 in the small former coal mining town of Loberg, where a group of local residents and stakeholders explore ways to rebuild a mutuality between the site of the mine and the town. They have been working with architecture, urban design, art and social enterprise to repurpose the large water tower, surrounding mine buildings and a new parkland.
While I was there, German Artist Jula Osten had been invited in to work with the Parkwerk team to stage a curated Flea Market which involves engaging the skills and interests of the broader community. It was great to be there during this intensive working week, engaging with the how the collaborative process is taking place, integrating new artistic approaches and ideas into their ongoing work.
When in Berlin I visited the experimental and community lead development projects of ExRotaprint in the Wedding district and Holtzmarket a central location on the banks of the river spree. The latter bringing together some of the questions explore at the Access Points symposium detailed in my second blog post, of citizens having access to water and shorelines, as well as looking at innovative, wholistic and longterm solutions to community ownership.
When I was in Hamburg I also visited Gängeviertel, a cluster of 12 historic buildings in central Hamburg which a wide group of artists, social and political activists have been working to save from decay and demolition. Importantly they want to create a centrally located area with the aim to promote arts and culture, securing them for the future, independently from political change. Ultimately, they want to create an open, self-administered Gängeviertel and are shaping a bespoke organisation structure of coopertives, associations and working groups to manage individual and corresponding components.
I also travelled to Rotterdam to visit the Afrikaanderwijk Cooperative and meet with artist Annet Van Otterloo who showed us around the area and gave us a overview of the long standing and complex neighbourhood project. project that is based on cultural production as means for economical growth.
The project is based on inclusive urban development through community participation and self-organisation and on co-operative cultural production as a means for economic and social growth. My interest in creative projects that have sustainable, not fully grant dependant and divergent income. I recognise that such projects can be challenging and complex to manage, however I draw great strength from seeing these numerous collective and collaborative projects operating on large scales.
I had also hoped to visit the Leezals community library, however it was closed during the period i was in town. I met up with Welsh Artist Honey Jones-Hughes, who is studying a Masters at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, and had a walking tour of the city while discussing future project collaborations.
I have gained new knowledge of ways of working and achieve more confidence in my contributions to projects in Liverpool through engaging with a supportive network of artists working towards similar goals. I feel empowered and inspired by the creative work of others and aspects of this visit will unquestionable feed into the main project which I am currently working on in Liverpool. For the last two years, as part of a group of artists, I have been working to establish a community launderette which also functions an arts and social space. We have secured some initial funding to get the project off the ground, have done a lot of work to develop the skills and capacity of the team, and develop a financial model and strategy in advance of opening to the public. Follow the next part of our journey as Kitty’s Launderette.
