The „Utopische Tafel“ as Format and Concept - Encounters in Grünau-Nord
Documentation of the contribution to the “Zukunft Jupiterplatz” day of action on Architecture Day 2024
The “Future Jupiterplatz” action day took place in Grünau-Nord, in observance of Architecture Day, summer 2024. The day was organized by the Stadtkuratorin Leipzig programme. mkk, a Leipzig architecture firm and the winners of the Europan Ideas design competition for the Jupiterstraße district center in Grünau, presented their work. The designs were displayed via a dialogical tour through the district. The “greater form“ project group created a walk-in dream-district of tomorrow in the Grün-Bau workshop for children and young people. And we, the Utopische Tafel, invited the public to an intergenerational dialogue space with coffee and cake to remember the neighborhood before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Die Grün-Bau-Werkstatt von greater form
Die Utopische Tafel wird aufgebaut
About the Utopische Tafel Collective; Tasks and Motivation
Since 2009, the anniversary of the Peaceful Revolution has been commemorated with a light festival in the city center, along the inner city ring. Our goal was to supplement this official commemoration with a participatory activation outside the center. Forgotten places and stories of the Peaceful Revolution should not only be “illuminated” proverbially. The city light festival was launched, and the Utopische Tafel collective was founded. The project’s goal is to deepen the understanding of the historical significance of the Peaceful Revolution, and its relationship to contemporary protest culture. The self-organized collective Utopische Tafel consists of a fluid association of artists, writers, activists, journalists, musicians and creatives with international backgrounds. What unites them is a collective interest in protest culture, and strategies for creating city-wide regional and international alliances, to develop cultures of remembrance and exchange. The Utopische Tafel cultural program has taken place in public spaces every year since 2019. Using the Utopische Tafel as an intergenerational meeting format in public space, volunteers, contemporary witnesses, and international guests are invited to meet publically, with discussions and exhibitions throughout the year. These meetings are open to everyone: The dialogue is accessible, without barriers and usually outdoors in the open air, weather permitting. At the tables, the focus is on sharing ideas. Starting from prompts such as: What was it like back then when the GDR disappeared? Participants can make a low-effort contribution with their own story, an object, or food. A Utopische Tafel seats 20 to 40 people at a time. Home-made or purchased food is on the table. Sometimes cake, soup, bread, curry or pasta. Depending on the context, different materials, books or flyers, discussion-prompt cards or memorabilia, are on the table. Contemporary witnesses and artists talk and interact with others. This creates a dialogue forum for all age groups with a cultural framework and historical awareness. Most of the Utopische Tafeln took place in Leipzig: sometimes visibly in the city center, sometimes in remote districts, to explore the different qualities of coming together in other neighborhoods. In order to strengthen the relationship between the city and the surrounding countryside, some Utopische Tafeln also took place in the surrounding areas of Saxony .1
The Utopische Tafel in Grünau
The event took place in observance of the “Future Jupiterplatz” action day, June 29, 2024, in Grünau-Nord. It started in the afternoon and continued into the early evening. Keywords in the initial brainstorming process were: living and social space, nostalgia, connectedness, foreignness, everyday life, environment (pollution), perception, and time. We wanted to make the table interactive and stimulate conversation and exchange by offering cakes and tarts. The idea of a pie chart was born. In addition to the conversation-prompt questions, we put together a book box, for related information and materials. We invited Andreas Naumann as a contemporary witness, and we showed the DEFA documentary “Rememberance of a Landscape - for Manuela”.
Component 1: Cake and table
A selection of six different cakes and tarts were placed on a 7-meter-long table on Jupiterplatz, protected by the shade of the trees, on a paper tablecloth that could be painted. Next to each cake were cards with typewritten questions, which playfully referred to the respective type of cake. Next to the parrot cake was written: “What colors did Grünau once have?” or “What were the ingredients of life back then?” The question “Who or what were the biggest plums in Grünau?” laid between the plates of the plum cakes. Next to the Snow White cake (Donauwelle) was the question “What are your first memories of Grünau?” and the bee sting cake asked: “In which places Where in Grünau are you closest to nature?”. The table was also a visual invitation to sit and eat and, with the selection of cakes, an associative stimulus for conversations and exchanges about the district: what it was like, what it is like now, and what it could become. After they were filled out, the cards with the cake diagrams were posted on a building fence. In this way, the opinions, feelings and memories collected were there for all to see.
Component 2: Conversation with contemporary witnesses
In addition to artistic contributions, conversations with contemporary witnesses are an important part of every Utopische Tafel. People with first-hand experience make the past personally accessible. Instead of using abstraction or fiction to explain history, people talk about their personal lives. We invited Andreas Naumann to Grünau Nord as a contemporary witness. He is an engineer, and was active as a construction manager in Grünau in the 1970s. We sat around the table, and some benches were moved to form a second row so that all the guests could be seated. Andreas Naumann talked about the way things were built back then, about material innovations, improvisations, and also about problems with cost-cutting measures and time-sensitive decisions. The discussion also covered the building methods of the future: sustainable insulation, fluid mechanics and thermodynamics, the efficiency of various materials, and affordability.
Component 3: Film
Another contribution to the afternoon program was a screening of the DEFA documentary “Rememberance of a Landscape - for Manuela” from 1983, in which director Kurt Tetzlaff documents open-cast lignite mining in the southern outskirts of Leipzig, over a three-year period from 1979 to 1982. The villages of Magdeborn and Bösdorf were demolished for this purpose. A couple celebrate a last wedding anniversary, while employees of the post office have difficulties finding their way around the empty, half-demolished streets, but still commute to work. The residents were resettled, largely against their will. Alongside Schönefeld and Borna, Leipzig Grünau is the site of their new future. The simultaneous anticipation of the good location on the top floor of the newly built prefabricated housing projects, and the loss of home as well as the destruction of nature in the name of industrial progress, are conveyed emotionally and vividly.
The history of Grünau is constantly being written. The Day of Architecture and the presentation of new plans for the Jupiterstraße neighborhood center was a good opportunity to talk about this constant transformation: How time changes places, and how places and their interpretation are also subject to an ongoing process.
Component 4: Book box
A book box was developed in cooperation with the Grünau district library for free discussion. It contained a Grünau-specific selection of fiction, poetry, specialized literature on contemporary history, photo books and local publications. Project reports on past artistic and socio-cultural works that had been realized in Grünau were also documented. The Utopische Tafel was lively and vibrant, whether people were interested in cake or in exchanging ideas. The prompting questions at the table led to discussions about life in Grünau. The guests at the table talked about the early days, when Grünau was being rebuilt. They recalled the mud of the construction sites, as paved paths came in much later, and the joy of having their (first) beautiful apartment as well as a warm neighborhood. The proximity to Lake Kulkwitz, the urban forest, good transit options even without a car – despite the long distances – community in the form of environmental groups and house projects, the Schönauer Berg (a gravel pit backfill), cross-country cycling trails, and cheap coffee, are some examples of good memories and current associations with the neighborhood. When asked about the biggest issues in Grünau, many expressed annoyance about politicians who spent a lot of taxpayers' money on the uncoordinated demolition of thousands of apartments, at the same time that there is a desire for affordable housing, and a claim that Grünau has the best air in Leipzig. The ambivalence must be endured. Concern about the future and increased vacancies in the district coexist with a feeling of home, “I don't want to leave here anymore.” A stomachache about the upcoming general election is present along with the motivation to discuss and solve problems and concerns in the community. There was room for all of this, at the table. In addition to the boxes of books provided, the prompts on the cake cards offered discussion topics. The conversation with contemporary witnesses made the exchange personal. It was particularly nice to have Andreas Naumann, as a contemporary witness, who was also involved in the construction and conception of the Vineta. The Vineta on what is now Lake Störmthal, a project by artist Ute Hartwig-Schulz, symbolizes the old, lost church in Magdeborn. The work is a memorial to places that were destroyed to make way for the Espenhain open-cast lignite mine. Magdeborn and Bösdorf were also shown in the documentary “Remembrance of a Landscape - For Manuela” and have become history.
Vision
The Utopische Tafel collective is also constantly in process. New Utopian Panels are planned for the future. The methodology and approach is flexible and easy to adapt to other co-organizers, topics or target groups. The Utopische Tafel grows as organically as a concept as it does in it‘s physical presence. It is a participatory discourse space, created through togetherness - in line with the credo that dialog and artistic formats are starting points for social and individual development. In this artistic approach lies the power to develop an attitude of togetherness and to overcome voicelessness through cultural production.
Fußnoten
Utopische Tafeln were held in Kohren-Sahlis, Colditz and Rüdigsdorf/Frohburg, among other places. A Utopische Tafel was held on the market square in Colditz in the summer of 2022 and 2023 for the Colditz Cultural Market, which was launched by the association of the same name to revitalize public space with cultural and educational offerings, creating a place to come together without prejudice. White tablecloths, late summer bouquets of wild flowers, even rabbits from the neighboring carpenter; the bakery opposite provided coffee from pump pots, the apple pie and Buchteln tempted people to sit down at the table and talk about what it was like when the porcelain disappeared. As a former porcelain manufacturing town, Colditz has gone through a period of transformation. Our own experience with the disappearance of the GDR, growing up in a socialist system, the fall of communism, joy and enthusiasm about new things, and disappointment about promises that were not kept, all found space and resonance at the table. People were asked in advance to bring broken Colditz crockery. The porcelain was then repaired by Berlin artist Ai Moliya using the Kintsugi technique.
Further information: https://www.statt-lichtfest.de
