Participating artists:Klasse Cortiñas & Jacobsen: Mio Al-Hashimy, Nils Keppel, Clemens Körner, Mariana Lishchynska, Pascal Schiffers, Nastia Sopilnyk, Simon Winkler, Solomiia Zhmuro and Siyan Zhang.
Venue:Stadtlabor Wittenberg
Markt 3
06886 Wittenberg
Contact Zone: A Collective Art Exhibition in the Center of Wittenberg
The Stadtlabor Wittenberg is pleased to present Notes from a Contact Zone, a group exhibition featuring the works of students from the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (HGB Leipzig) which will run from December 4, 2024 - January 17, 2025. Notes from a Contact Zone is a dynamic collaboration between HGB Leipzig students and the unique platform provided by Stadtlabor Wittenberg. The exhibition emerges from the ongoing engagement of the Stadtlabor Wittenberg with the concept of the commons, challenging the boundaries between private and public, individual and collective. Drawing on themes such as sustainability, cooperation, and shared cultural heritage, the exhibition invites the public to participate in a creative dialogue about what it means to create and sustain communal resources in a rapidly changing world. Bringing together a diverse array of artistic practices, the exhibition explores and reimagines the idea of the “contact zone” * and intercultural dialogue.
* “I use this term to refer to social spaces where cultures meet, clash and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they lived out in many parts of the world today”. Mary Louise Pratt, “Arts of the Contact Zone” In Profession. 1991.
Exhibition visitors can explore the transformative concept of the contact zone through the innovative lens of emerging artists. The students worked closely with the Stadtlabor and will present new artworks that delve into the possibilities of shared resources, collective agency and collaborative creativity. Another focus of Notes from a Contact Zone is also the idea of the “commons”- to spotlight communal ownership, shared responsibility, and the power of collective action in shaping sustainable and equitable futures. Stadtlabor, with its focus on public engagement, urban innovation, and participatory culture, creates an ideal environment for the exhibition's theme. The exhibition space itself is a living laboratory for experimentation, encouraging artists and visitors alike to question traditional boundaries between private and public, individual and collective.
