Working on the tent in Pakistan/
Kalash Valley- Hindukush/
28.09.-04.10.2004

In the Hindukush near the Afghan border I discussed some of the embroideries made in Pakistan with Kalash women.
The Kalasha are the only non-muslim people left in the Hindukush. They are supposed to derive from Alexander the Great when he invaded the area 327 BC. The population of about 3000 Kalasha still practise their pre-islamic religion although Muslim missionaries are trying to convert young Kalasha. Especially women appear very different from other Pakistani Muslim women- they dress unveiled in colourful traditional dresses and appear very proud and self confident. The so called ”Pirhan” is traditionally embroidered with colourful patterns although women changed within the last few years to use the sewing machine for embroideries. Showing these women the embroideries on the tent made them very curious to find out why I was “still” embroidering by hand. Language problems made the understanding somewhat difficult but I managed to bring the idea of the tent project across. The women liked the idea of using embroidery for depicting reality as different to decorating clothes.
After our discussion some of the women wanted to try themselves on the tent.

Artist collective ODA PROJESI from Istanbul/ Turkey
01.08.2004

Oda Projesi is an artist collaborative based in Istanbul, Turkey initiated by three women artists: Özge Acıkkol, Günes Savas and Secil Yersel.
Oda Projesi means “Room Project” and employs thinking of the different usages of the “room”: finding a way to combine the daily life and art practices. The group wants to bridge relations between artists, non-artists, artist-run-groups, institutions and the communities in the neighborhood.
The group started working in 2000 after a three years period of renting an apartment as a studio in the neighborhood of Galata, a historical urban district in Istanbul with considerable mixture of social classes and an ongoing process of gentrification. The work of Oda Projesi operates through direct contact with communities and develops relationships within the neighborhood to transform this gentrification process. Since their first project- when Özge Acıkkol emptied the room and exhibited it with the text of George Perec, About a Useless Space- the group has extended invitations for the neighbors in Galata an other artists and artist groups to meet and collaborate in various ways. These events are process-based, which means they often do not have an object like end-product but rely on the experience as an outcome. Oda Projesi say they want to create “a monument composed of gestures from every day life and layers of memories of the community” and they emphasize that this always occurs together with, and not for, the participants.

More informations: www.odaprojesi.com

Working on the tent in Iran/
Residency at the Paradise International Artists Center/
Teheran and Polur/ 22.08.-04.09.2004

Invited by the Paradise International Artists Center the project developed further in the mountainous area outside of Teheran. Polur where the Center is situated is a small peasant village growing increasingly and undergoing a process of further gentrification. The tent was taken up to the higher mountain areas where traditional nomads still life in tents. The tent was established in between the nomadic conglomerate of tents by help of the surrounding families.
A discussion developed on traditional nomadic lifestyle and the changing needs of modern society. The nomads were very curious and interested in the tent project and their home place being part of the project. This kind of exhibition is a very personal imparting of art in small scale in local environment that reaches people usually not involved in art all.
The nomads asked many questions about the motivation, intention and length of the project.
And by help of a translator who understood the special Farsi dialect spoken by the nomads a dialogue developed on the differences between nomadic and stationary life style. Most parts of the debate I could videotape to be edited as a short documentary film.

In Persia the meaning of “tent” - the Farsi translation “tschador”- refers to two different but somehow related terms, the traditional black dresscloth which women are supposed to wear as well as the tent for accommodation and living. Women appear very different depending on whether you meet them in public space (covered with tschador or manteau and headscarf) or in private space. This difference makes a very strong distinction between public and private space, which relates to the tent idea I am working on.

Presentation of the project at Oda Projesi/
Istanbul/ Turkey/ 29.07.2004

Oda Projesi Invititation to the presentation of the project
>so far so good- soweit so gut<
Thursday, 29.07.2004,
Oda Projesi adress: Galipede cad: Sahkulu sok. 39/1 Galata, Tel.:0212 2923096
18:00 introduction of the project & “telling stories”
19:30 presentation of Hungarian artist group “hints”


Oda Projesi invited Nadin Reschke Kindlimann, a German artist to work in the Oda Projesi courtyard on Monday, from 13:00/ Tuesday, from 12:00/ Wednesday, from 16:00 on her tent construction. The tent is one of the oldest forms of transportable accommodation and in times of globalisation and the urgent need for mobility it creates a “perfect home”.
In collaboration with women from the surrounding neighbourhood Nadin Reschke Kindlimann is embroidering sketches onto the surface of the tent dealing with comparative notions of Istanbul.
The presentation concludes the project time in Istanbul showing the embroidered tent pitched up in the courtyard as well as slides and a short film documentary about the process of working in Istanbul. The artist introduces the project and invites people to join the “storytelling” inside the tent, an intervention action reviving the tradition of storytelling.

Working with Turkish women on the tent/
Invitation by Oda Projesi/
Istanbul/ 26.07.-28.07.2004

Invited by the artist collective Oda Projesi from Istanbul the work on the tent took place in their project space located in the quarter called Galata. The continuous involvement of Oda Projesi in this neighbourhood and their well established relationships made a collaboration work with the women living there possible. The women and children in the surrounding courtyard first got involved by watching the work and asking about the use and motivation of the action and subsequently getting more and more involved by embroidering their own sketches about Istanbul.
The point of perspective changed through this interaction with the neighbourhood. The collaborative embroidering developed and the discussions turned into a comparison about what they think about Istanbul compared with the artist´s experiences visiting the city.
Nadin Reschke-Kindlimann taught the younger girls embroidering techniques from Germany, while the mothers and older women used their own style to contribute a sketch about their daily life in Istanbul. The process was highly enriching for all participants as it was reflecting an everyday female activity in a new and broadened context. The joint embroidering made the women come out of their houses and stay in the courtyard. This gathering in public space usually only known from men shifted gender roles for a short period of time.

Romanian Dinner in the tent/ Sibiu/ Herrmannstadt/ Romania/
12.07.2004

Invitation by Monika Brandsch, a true Romanian with a “german” heart (her father is Transylvanian Saxon) to cook an old traditional family recipe: Coltinasi. These are small filled dough pastries served with cream and salt. The meal got served inside the tent and a lively discussion developed on the question of national and cultural identities. What are the German influences left in Siebenbürgen? And what makes someone feel German although being born in Romania? It is obviously not the country of origin deciding on someone’s cultural identity. Here we come to rethink the notion of culture, a term that was shaped and defined by Herder around 1780’s who described culture as a closed sphere. This concept only works through the dichotomy of concentration of one’s own and the rejection of the unknown.
But we experience culture as a pool of different interfering influences both known and unknown constantly changing and reshaping. Like the traditional recipe cooked that evening: Coltunasi originally comes from Moldavia where the grandmother used to live, but has been adopted in the family and changed over time to an Romanian dish prepared by a half German cook.

Artist group >hints< from Budapest is being integrated into the Project/ 11.06.2004

The >hints< create off gallery art in spaces that are otherwise not meant for artistic use. Their aim is to dissolve art into everyday life by creating thought provoking and inspiring projects those involve people of public spaces, through disrupting their isolated routines and suggesting alternative ways. They intend to encourage dialogues on the public realm in order to revive former public forums and to create new ones.
The members of the institute are artists and sociologists. This fusion helps to examine the notions of public and community from diverse aspects and lets them reach different layers of society by a wide range of activity, like projects with minority social groups, actions on streets, stencil and sticker art, etc. The group was launched in 2001 and has been active in Budapest, France and the Netherlands.

Active members of the group are:
Mónika Bálint
Tamás Ilauszky
Rebeka Pál
Eszter Ágnes Szabó
Anikó Szövényi

The picture shows the “public music listening” Budapest, 2003
listening music from an old home hifi turntable set in Budapests pedestrians junctions, testing what is the border of public/ private what is left from the socialist fear of doing anything publicly

Further information: www.hints.hu
The group will be introduced in the next presentation of he project in Turkey.

Setting up the tent at Moskva ter/ Budapest/ 12.06.2004

The idea was to pitch the tent at Moskva ter, a very busy traffic junction, meeting place and street labour market in the centre of the city. Aim of this public intervention was to create a intimate and somewhat private space for meeting people in an public area.
Setting up the tent was a group action as there were 6 people involved to mark the area covered and handle the materials. It was planed to make coffee inside the tent and invite passers-by but the action was stopped by the police who demanded the immediate leave. They asked for an official licence and as I did not obtain any permission they obtrusively forced us to pack up and leave. Inviting them for a cup of coffee did not change their minds. Both told us we were being observed by more than ten public monitoring cameras which marks an interesting point as part of the action dealing with public and private spaces. We started a discussion about legal rights and the use of public and private space in Hungarian. As they did not speak English I was dependent on translations and decided in the end to follow the advice of the fellow artists to interrupt the action and leave the place.
I was told later on that it was ”no-campaign-day”, one day before the European election which must have influenced the action evolving this way.

Special thanks to Bianca, Eszter and her family and Robin und Claudia from Amsterdam.

Presentation of the project >so far so good< in DINAMO/ Budapest/ 9.06.2004

Meghívó a
>so far so good- soweit so gut<
c. project megnyitójára és prezentációjára
a DINAMOba/1094 BUDAPEST/ TÜZOLTÓ UTCA 22.
Szerda, 2004. június 9. 17:00/
bevezetõ 17:30/ német konyha 18:00

Presentation to the opening and presentation of the project
>so far so good- soweit so gut<
at DINAMO/ 1094 BUDAPEST/ TÜZOLTÓ UTCA 22
Wednesday, 9th of June 2004, 17:00/ introduction 17:30/ german food 18:00

The presentation was given in the form of a talk with an following discussion about the project details. Slides and video sequences were shown to explain the intention of my work and the project in particular. The tent was set up in the middle of he 85 m² work space accessible from the rear of the room. The display was further completed by maps, written notes and e-mail correspondence showing the ongoing development and organisation of the travelling project.
According to the aim of the project to establish a network between artists from different cultures I was introducing works of artists colleagues Heide Hinrichs and Martin Held Part from Germany.

Further information: www.dinamo.hu

Special thanks to Hajnalka Somogyi and Katarina Sevic from the Trafo- House of Contemporary Arts for all the assistance and organisation.

Budapest/ DINAMO/
TRAFO/ House of Contemporary Arts/
4.06.-14.06.2004

In Budapest I got invited by the curator of the TRAFO gallery, Hajnalka Somogyi to work in Dinamo, a non-profit Art Space situated in an ex car repair service in the 9th District of Budapest.
Dinamo is an autonomous space for work, presentation, experiments in the fields of art, culture and cmmunication outside the established realms of art practise. It was founded in 2003 by Hajnalka Somogyi and Katarina Sevic.
For two weeks, from the 4.-14.06.2004 I could work on the tent construction very intensively and establish contacts with artists and artist groups in Budapest. I was also asked to give a presentation of the project, which was realised at the end of my stay.

Further information: www.dinamo.hu

Special thanks to Adele Eisenstein for connecting me with the right people and Bianca Otero for the encouraging discussions.

Einweihung und Eröffnung des Zeltes in Krzyzowa/ Polen
Am 10. Mai 2004 konnte ich das Zelt ein erstes mal komplett aufbauen und sozusagen einweihen, nachdem ich die Tage davor wie verrückt auf einer alten deutschen Nähmaschine aus polnischen Händen genäht habe. Die Konstruktion stellte sich als zielmlich schwierig heraus, aber mit Hilfe eines Blumenladens und des Anglerclubs in Swidnice haben wir dann Material gefunden, um ein Gestänge konstruieren zu können: Bambusstangen, Weidenstöcke und Anglerruten-ersatzteile brachten die Konstruktion dann tatsächlich ein erstes mal zum stehen, und das Zelt wurde begehbar.
Die Eröffnung fand auf einer Wiese vor dem Berghaus der Stiftung Krzyzowa bei Kaffee und Apfelkuchen statt. Ein polnischer Stipendiat namens Thomasz hat echten Bison-Wodka zur Eröffnung mitgebracht und so standen dann plötzlich 9 Leute mit gefüllten Gläsern im Zelt und haben angestossen. Es war eine interessante multikulturelle Runde und in englisch-deutsch-polnisch und russisch wurde über die Reiseroute des Zeltes diskutiert und die nächste Station des Zeltes erraten. Die Kinder haben das Zelt als Versteckspiel erkannt und genutzt und später am Nachmitag gab es sogar noch eine musikalische Einweihung mit einem kleinem Trompetenkonzert.
Ich habe am gleichen Abend tatsächlich noch mit meiner ersten Stickerei angefangen und versucht, das Gelb des dahinterleuchtenden Rapsfeldes auf die Zeltwand zu bannen, bis die Sonne unterging und es draussen zu kalt wurde.

Danke an alle, die beim Aufbau und der Realisierung geholfen haben, vor allem Heide, Daniel, Thomasz und Julia und der allen Mitarbeitern der Fundacja Krzyzowa.

[so far so good- so weit so gut]

Als bildende Künstlerin ist man neben der eigenen künstlerischen Arbeit ständig im Austausch und Gespräch mit anderen KünstlerInnnen. Dieser Erfahrungsaustausch dient nicht nur der eigenen Standortbestimmung, sondern vor allem dem Weiterdenken und Diskutieren von eigenen Ansätzen und Fragestellungen. Künstler arbeiten weitestgehend allein und isoliert, dennoch wird der Teamgedanke und das Aufbauen von Netzwerken immer wieder diskutiert und auch versuchsweise umgesetzt.
Auf der Suche nach funktionierenden Netzwerken und Kontakten habe ich mich für eine Arbeitsweise des >unterwegs Seins< entschieden, indem ich für 1 ½ Jahre den festen Wohn- und Arbeitsplatz gegen ein Nomadenleben tausche und in verschiedenen Orten und Ländern unterwegs bin.
Ich erhoffe mir aus dieser Arbeitsweise bleibende Kontakte mit einzelnen Künstlern, die Anregung von Austauschbeziehungen und vor allem erweiterte Perspektiven für mein eigenes künstlerisches Schaffen.
Ausgangspunkt meiner Arbeit unterwegs ist eine Zelt-Installation, die ich selbst entworfen, konstruiert und aus Fallschirmseide genäht habe.
Das Zelt ist seit Jahrhunderten die einfachste Form einer Unterkunft oder eines Hauses. Es ist mobil, das heißt es kann an unterschiedlichsten Orten immer wieder auf– und abgebaut werden, und so jederzeit einen Ort schaffen, in dem Begegnung möglich wird. Ein Zelt thematisiert darüber hinaus das unterwegs sein an sich und wirft Fragen der Zugehörigkeit und Identität auf.
Die Zelt-Installation selbst ist aus Fallschirm-Seide, einem zarten und labilem Werkstoff, der selbst keine eigene Form eingeht. Erst durch den Träger, hier die Konstruktion aus Bambusstangen und Aluminiumverbindungen wird dem Stoff eine Form gegeben und das Zelt zum Stehen gebracht. Dieses Paradoxon des Unförmigen und Labilen aber gleichzeitig Stabilen und Räumlichen erzeugt in dieser Arbeit ein ganz eigenes Spannungsfeld, das es auszuloten gilt.
Die weißen Zeltwände werden von mir als eine Art Skizzenbuch verwendet und werden im Laufe der Monate bestickt.
Sticken ist eine Jahrhunderte alte Tradition des Verzierens und Schmückens aber auch des Kennzeichnens und Markierens. Für Frauen war es bis Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts die einzige Möglichkeit der bildlichen Darstellung, bevor sie Zugang und Anerkennung im patriarchalischen Kunstsystem erhielten. Mich interessiert am Sticken vor allem der Prozess des Durchdringens, der eine Permeabilität des Stoffes erzeugt. Der Faden verläuft auf beiden Seiten, das heißt, es gibt kein Innen and Außen, kein hinten und vorn. Die Faszination für das Sticken entstand aus der Möglichkeit mit dem Faden eine Fläche zu bilden oder in die Dreidimensionalität überzugehen, indem der Faden wie ein Zeichenstift verwendet und der Stoff zur dreidimensionalen Bildfläche wird.

Die Zelt- Installation wird über die kommenden 15 Monate als „work in progress“ zu sehen sein. Die vorläufigen Stationen des Projektes sind:

Dresden/ Deutschland Budapest/ Ungarn Istanbul/ Türkei
Teheran/ Iran Bombay/ Indien Melbourne/ Australien
Singapore Jakarta / Indonesien Hanoi/ Vietnam
Peking/ China

Durch Kontakte und Zusammenarbeit mit Künstlergruppen oder Non Profit Art Spaces möchte ich jeweils zu einem Treffen/ Event einladen, und das Projekt, die Materialien und Arbeiten vorstellen. Meine eigenen Ansatzpunkte werde ich dabei durch die Arbeiten von zwei weiteren KünstlerInnen aus Deutschland ergänzen, deren Arbeitsweisen ich seit längerer Zeit gut kenne und verfolge: Heide Hinrichs und Martin Held.
Wenn sich im jeweiligen Gastland Kontakte ergeben, wird sich durch ein Interview mit einer/m KünstlerIn die Präsentation um eine neue Perspektive erweitern. Dadurch wird in jedem Land das Material verändert und in Zusammenarbeit mit einem dort ansässigen Künstler erweitert.

Geleitet von ganz persönlichen Fragestellungen möchte ich mit diesem Projekt Antworten und Erfahrungen verschiedener KünstlerInnen sammeln, bündeln und der Öffentlichkeit vorstellen.

Über den Verlauf des Projektes werde ich unter project news berichten.

Nadin Reschke Kindlimann
____________________________________________
Dieses Projekt wird unterstützt von der Kunsthochschule Dresden und ist Teil des STAFETA Projektes im KunstHaus Dresden.