Konzept
- The Association‘s Concept, Ideas and Visions
Marschenprojekte e.V. aims to enable artists from various disciplines to engage with the delicate microcosm of the marsh through artistic research projects: in a collaborative, research-based partnership that may also involve scientists as well as the local community, with their perspectives and experiential knowledge. Various artistic formats - such as exhibitions, site-specific performances, concerts, and participatory, newly invented formats - can be developed at the oesterfeld 04 residency in Dithmarschen and presented at the conclusion of a project. The residency, a formerly prosperous marsh farmstead (built ca. 1890), is situated in the midst of the flat marsh landscape near the Eider River in Friedrichstadt. With its large garden - much of which remains uncultivated- oesterfeld04 is today a “wild” island surrounded by conventional agriculture, characterized primarily by grassland. The association’s collaboration with the residency enables artists to establish a direct, sensory connection to the marsh landscape; they find themselves “in the field,” even if the marsh’s forces - some of which are invisible - will only reveal themselves over time.
As a dynamic transitional space between water and land, where constant processes of flooding and receding water blur the boundaries between the elements, the marsh is particularly affected by climate change. The areas reclaimed from the sea behind the dikes along the Wadden Sea lie below sea level - including oesterfeld04. The threat of rising sea levels connects the local marsh to many similarly affected regions worldwide. Through its projects, the association aims to foster a planetary consciousness by engaging with the microcosm of the marsh. Through a multifaceted exploration of this living, amphibious subject of research, its potential for developing ideas, visions, and concepts can be harnessed, and artistic means can be used to test scenarios that unfold beyond apocalyptic images of catastrophe. Scenarios in which human and non-human life engage in exchange and cooperation, and new, community-driven spheres of action emerge.
In addition to projects that focus on research within the context of artistic inquiry, the association also aims to facilitate other event formats - such as workshops, expert lectures, and the like - that explore topics related to the body of knowledge about the Marsch or offer aesthetic perspectives on life in the Marsch. Beyond its collaboration with the oesterfeld04 residency, the association aims to be part of networks and communities - both locally and globally - that are working on similar projects. Thus, the association also aims to showcase suitable works created at oesterfeld 04 in other locations, including urban contexts - particularly those undergoing urban transformation processes, such as the redevelopment of untapped wasteland sites into communally used green corridors, or the redesign and repurposing of vacant properties, etc.