Artist-in-Garden-Residency: HowHow Kollektiv
September 2023
xWhat does one sqm Lützerath tell? One sqm church floor? One sqm of prefabricated building? Or a square meter of farmland? For three weeks, the HowHow collective is a guest at the HELLERAU Kulturgarten and is setting up the temporary “Kartellamt 6000” – a facility that adheres to its own logic. The “Kartellamt 6000” is an open studio in which visitors to the Kulturgarten can gain insights into the research and production processes of the artists in residence.
The soil concerns us all. Because it means nothing less than the world. With the onset of industrialization and the enclosure of land to private ownership, the soil we live on becomes a non-reproducible and thus fragile commodity in the capitalist system. In the mirror of skyrocketing rents, gentrified inner cities, and ever-advancing environmental degradation, the kinship between us and the land question becomes clear. Where the Federal Cartel Office fails to set limits to market activity, the ” Kartellamt 6000 ” places itself performatively and musically protectively on the ground – against monopoly formation, against displacement, against competition with land as a scarce commodity.
HowHow deals with questions of collective authorship and the production scenario as a sustainable practice. The six members of the collective form an interdisciplinary group composed of stage and costume designers, composers, choral conductors and visual artists. The works move in the field of tension between physical music theater and vocal performance.
Zorka Wollny is an interdisciplinary artist who directs and choreographs performative works in collaboration with musicians, actors, dancers, and community members. Operating at the intersection of visual art, theater, activism, and contemporary music, her projects often explore the voice and body as tools of expression and public debate and respond directly to the histories and functions of specific architectural sites. She has staged performances in museums, factories, and empty buildings. Her works have been presented worldwide, including at Chicago Architecture Biennial; Biennale in Porto Allegre; De Appel, Amsterdam; Heroines of Sound Festival, Berlin; International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York; Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg, Germany; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Jazz and Experimental Music Festival, Istanbul; Akademie der Künste, Berlin; Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig; Savvy Contemporary, Berlin; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; Royal College of Art, London; and the 4th World Social Forum, Mumbai.