Signals 3.0 – A Choreography for All!

How are people and places connected with history and memory? What memories are created by the joint movement of bodies in space? What could a new, living form of remembrance look like?

We invite all people of Dresden to come together on Saturday, 9 November at 6 p.m. at the Golden Rider in order to illuminate Dresden together. With people from all over the world and 80 light sculptures, we want to illuminate the city anew on this historic date.

The impulse for the Signals 3.0 experiment comes from the Dutch-Hungarian artist Artúr van Balen and the Colombian artist Tomás Espinosa as well as the Tools for Action Foundation.

The Choreography for All! on 9 November in the Dresden urban space picks up on three historical events associated with this date: The proclamation of the first German republic in 1918, the November progrome in 1938 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The triad of these events also evokes special memories in Dresden. New forms of commemoration and collective forms of narration are to be researched together: What changed role does ‘we’ play in looking back at historical events and what new forms of exchange between subjective experiences of the present and history are conceivable?

Our aim is to counter the appropriation of Dresden’s history by right-wing groups and to create a shift in perspectives. With a choreography for all! we want to try out new forms of assembly and collective communication in the heart of Dresden. Please bring a light with you – no matter if bicycle light, flashlight or mobile phone.

OPEN CALL for the Open Archive from 1918 to 2019

We are happy to pass on the call of Artúr van Balen and Tomás Espinosa to contribute to the open archive. Please bring your memories in the form of photos, films, objects or texts linked to dates 1918, 1938, 1989 and 2019!

Further information on the following programme items and dates in the Signals 3.0 project can be found at www.kunsthausdresden.de.

We would also like to invite you to contact us at kunsthaus@museen-dresden.de or Carolin Gerlach, Production Manager, at carolingerlach@gmx.net or telephone 0351-20884833. We will be happy to provide you with information about the archive and your active participation in the public performance on 9 November!

Tools for Action Foundation

Tools for Action Foundation explores the interface between art and activism, between the language of poetry and a clear political vision. Tools for Action Foundation acts as a platform for collaboration between artists, educators and activists. The Foundation supports workshops in which the production of inflatable sculptures is used as a community-building element and as a means of intervention. It aims to practice alternative forms of social engagement and to open the way to experimentation.

In 2017, Tools for Action Foundation received the Award for Cultural Education of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Media for the project Spiegelbarrikade together with Schauspiel Dortmund.

Tools for Action Foundation was founded in 2012 by the Dutch-Hungarian artist Artúr van Balen.

Artúr van Balen

Artúr van Balen’s work moves between visual art, performance and historical research. In 2018, he initiated the travelling exhibition Floating Utopias on Inflatable Art and the Utopian Imagination, which was exhibited at both the new Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst in Berlin (2018) and the Art Science Museum in Singapore (2019).

Artúr van Balen’s individual and collective works have been shown at the Victoria and Albert’s Museum (Disobedient Objects, London, 2014), The Truth is Concrete Festival at Steirischer Herbst (Graz, 2012), the Seventh Moscow Biennale for Contemporary Art (Moscow, 2016), the Wiener Festwochen (Vienna, 2017), the nGbK and Kulturprojekte Berlin (Berlin, 2018), the architecture festival Concéntrico (Logroño, 2019), among others. Artúr studied philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and fine arts at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Glasgow School of Arts.

Tomás Espinosa

The works of the Colombian artist Tomás Espinosá frequently focus on the relationship between private and community situations. With great sensitivity for the social and emotional environment, he uses sculpture to create possibilities that stimulate reflection and dialogue. Another focus of his work is the search for an understanding of sexuality and how it influences our society. Espinosa has been designing installations and works with ceramics and mirrors since 2009. Since 2014 he has collaborated with Artúr van Balen as a duo in the tools for Action Foundation. Together they organize workshops and realize interventions with inflatable sculptures.

Tomás studied fine arts at the Ponti cia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá and at the Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK). From 2011 to 2014, he was a student of the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson and a participant in his Institute for Space Experiments. Espinosa has participated in numerous group exhibitions, performances and workshops, including Vitamin Space (Guangzhou, China. 2014), Triennial of Architecture (MUDE Museum of Fashion and Design, Lisbon, Portugal. 2013), Grosses Feld ( Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 2012), “Festival of Futures Nows ( Neue Nationalgalerie, Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin. 2014 and 2017) and “Relaciones de Barrio” (Bogotá. 2017), Kulturprojekte Berlin (Berlin, 2018), the architecture festival Concéntrico (Logroño, 2019) Recently, in collaboration with the Transgender Community in Bogotá, he realized the project “Transin Able”, a creative laboratory and campaign for the rights and visibility of transgender sex workers in Colombia. This year he continues the project together with Artúr van Balen in Bogotá.