Platform Urban Society & Generations
The city needs cultural agents
Dresden is rich in art and culture, festivals and celebrations, projects and initiatives – so they say. However, many of these socio-cultural, artistic and cultural cultural locations reach fewer people than set out in concepts and target papers, while others do not make it out of their infancy due to a lack of funding, political support or manpower despite their potential for innovation. Together with our cultural agents, the platform wants to create third places that horizontally and vertically link the urban population, the multitude of projects already existing or in the pipeline, and their creators together with the city government. On site and in direct neighbourhood, the cultural agents operate in kiosks, empty shops, mobile meeting points or attached to already existing contact points.
On 16 October between 10 a. m. and 6 p. m., the artist Anne Klein will continue the collection of these places live in an audiovisual performance. As hostess Tracy, she will assume the role of cultural agent for one day. She will accompany the visitors through the installation, conduct interviews and thus expand the data collection.
Neue Heimat Platform Urban Society & Generations
Since January 2019, the platform Urban Society & Generations has been dealing with the question of what contribution culture can make that can set new impulses for urban society and generations beyond the classic options. Values that are believed to be safe are in question. New cultural formats can be a means of discussing them and jointly shaping coexistence in urban society. We want to put this culture back in the centre of society, strengthen existing and planned projects and formats, create synergies with other platforms and influence the cultural development plan.
Neue Heimat Platform
"How would you show a visitor from another European country the culture of your neighbourhood?" This is what our platform "Culture & Democracy" asks in its project, which it developed for the European Capital of Culture in 2019. The Dresdeners’ answers are to be used to create a cultural trail through the entire city by 2025, for locals and tourists alike. The "Culture & Environment" platform, on the other hand, is inviting people in the spring of 2020 to create a meadow atlas, a threatened wild plant with large yellow flowers, before the plants find a new home on the Elbe meadows. These are two of nine ideas from our platform process.
Cultural mediators speak of participation and sharing: Neue Heimat Dresden 2025 stands not only for culture for all, but culture with all. Our programme 2025 will consist of a curated part – developed by professional artists – and a non-curated part – designed by citizens. This year, 150 people have already worked on project ideas in nine thematic fields, which will now be presented to the public for the first time and implemented as prototypes in 2020.