Monday and Tuesday last week IDEE visited tenantspin from Dresden. The group is made up of artists and young people from a housing estate in Prohils, Dresden who started a arts club in the middled of the housing estate around 1994. Prohlis is an interesting looks at how Germany responded to the housing crisis after the 2nd World War. It was once in Eastern Germany before the Berlin wall came down and is made up of mostly 1950’s high-rise blocks, built originally to house 25,000 people. Since the fall of the wall most people have left for better experiences in other parts of Germany and those who are left tend to be young, unemployed and male.
Adam, an English artist who has lived around the estate for since 1994 saw the problems involved in these young peoples lives and started a media club which trains young people in film production, video editing and other interesting modes of creative development through media such as stop frame animation. They also make really interesting video blogs with other young people from the estate about their experience of being unemployed in Prohlis, what they do on Sundays, a week day and pay-day. The result of these are poignant and touching examples of an excellent way to get people to open up to a camera which can sometimes be problematic.
We took the group to the Liverpool Lighthouse on Oakfield Road, Anfield to have a look at the facilties they have there and then got together with them to run a workshop from FACT on the Tuesday - the group produced a small film which mixed flash animation techniques with stills and some moving image to give their reaction to coming to Liverpool and to seeing the large-scale regeneration of some areas and degeneration of others - the film isn’t ready as yet but watch this space……..
On Tuesday night Adam gave a talk to a group in the Renew Rooms looking at ways you can work as an artist in an environment like this and what can ultimately be gained for participants and practitioners.
For more information about IDEE and their projects go to http://idee-01239.webconsulting-dresden.de
