We put our hands in the water is the debut dieDAS art initiative. The exhibition is a cooperative project realized by the academy, curator Daniel Marzona, and the city of Naumburg, and intends to promote and spread the cultural and social values of the academy beyond Saaleck.
We put our hands in the water features work by artists Ulla von Brandenburg and Olaf Holzapfel. Ulla von Brandenburg's large-format fabric panels will transform the rooms into vibrant, stage-like settings reminiscent of dreamlike worlds. The artist describes her works as "spatial stagings" that bring together folklore, songs, theater, dance, and architecture to explore both the individual as well as the dynamics and functioning of community and society between chaos and regularity. In this way, von Brandenburg's pieces formally examine aspects of the theatrical within the visual arts and conjure up delicate moments between utopia and reality, leaving the gap open for new perspectives and the previously unthought-of.
Olaf Holzapfel, meanwhile, has been investigating natural materials and traditional techniques for more than a decade through his multi-layered artworks. Using straw, reed, hay, and other organic materials, he explores the connection between rural and urban spaces in material paintings, sculptures, and installations. Always at the cutting edge of theoretical discourse, his work is both relevant and groundbreaking in terms of the social and ecological dimension of its issues.
Despite their differences, both artists develop new approaches to deciphering current social problems by drawing on older traditions of craftsmanship, theater, and humanistic knowledge. In each case, this takes place with special consideration of physicality, on the one hand through the viewer's perception of the body, but also through the use of the body as a benchmark and starting point for their own work. In this way, both works unfold their true power exclusively in the actual encounter with their counterpart in real space.
The currently unused Alte Kurhaus Bad Kösen is being revitalized as a spectacular location for the dieDAS art opening exhibition. Built in 1911 by Baurat Schmidt, the neoclassical building established Bad Kösen as a popular spa resort far beyond the Saale valley. This tradition is now to be continued.
The exhibition is accompanied by an educational program for interested guests and schoolchildren from Bad Kösen, the Burgenland district and beyond.
The exhibition is supported by the Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt, the Princess Kira A. Princess of Prussia Foundation, the City of Naumburg and the Marzona Foundation Neue Saalecker Werkstätten.
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