Strategies of Transformation
On the revival of historical cultural sites using the Dresden Villa Wigman as an example
In 2016, various protagonists of the independent Dresden dance scene founded an association to revive Mary Wigman’s former home and workhouse in Bautzner Straße 107. The aim was and is to preserve this building in Dresden: as a cultural-historical location as well as a rehearsal, production and mediation centre for contemporary dance and other independent performing arts. The City of Dresden decided to purchase this building in 2018, but the final award to an operator and thus the future form are still uncertain. The discussion about this location has so far been conducted emotionally, but almost exclusively against the background of an improvement in working conditions for the independent scene.
This panel will therefore primarily examine the supra-regional cultural-historical significance of this location against the background of the various (quite controversial) facets of Mary Wigman’s work and its connection with contemporary arts. Villa Wigman stands for us as an example for the revival of such places not (exclusively) as museum memorials, but as future-oriented centers of creation and artistic research.
