Stadtkuratorin
Leipzig

At a time when social, ecological, and political crises are overlapping and intensifying, the fundamental question of spaces for encounter has become particularly urgent. The artistic urban laboratory “Common Grounds – Public Spaces as a Common Good in Times of Multiple Crises” invites internationally active artists, architects, sociocultural actors, and choreographers to work in the urban public sphere.

In artistic projects, all processes are dedicated to exploring and experimentally reimagining public spaces as places of gathering, exchange, and mutual appreciation. “Common Grounds” picks up where people have stopped talking to one another, and its title deliberately points to a starting point for renewal and transformation. Cultural practitioners from various disciplines are connected with local residents and community leaders. Through collaborative creation, public spaces are (re)claimed and empowered through self-directed action.

For “Common Grounds,” we are working at three project sites in the neighborhoods of Grünau-Nord, Paunsdorf, and Lößnig. All three neighborhoods face social challenges and have relatively weak infrastructure.

In Grünau-Nord, young people are working on a collective mural for the façade of a block building as part of a series of workshops within the “Sketching our Future” project. In Paunsdorf, the mobile solar kitchen “Fiumicina” will create a shared space for discussion, learning and storytelling around social and environmental issues of sustainability. In Lößnig, a neighbourhood group is working with the artist Kateřina Šedá to create architectural spaces designed to foster community and overcome social isolation.

What all those involved have in common is that, in a time marked by uncertainty, polarization, and rapid change, they are searching for sustainable ways of working together and living together. Together with local initiatives, we ask ourselves: How do we want to interact with one another at the local level amid the current multifaceted crisis? Where can we gather in the future to shape, care for, and share together?

An artistic urban laboratory by Stadtkuratorin Leipzig and UmRäumen e.V.

Artists: Kadir Amigo Memiş (DE) with Senja K. Brütting (DE) and Ehab Assadi (SY/DE), Jeanne van Heeswijk and Afrikaanderwijk Kooperative (NL), Kateřina Šedá (CZ), Fiumicina (IT/DE)

Curatorial team: Clara Hofmann, Julia Kurz, Johanna Ralser, Sithara Weeratunga