STUDIO URBANISTAN: BALANCE – an audio walk through the garden city
In search of BALANCE
Based on the social reform ideas at the beginning of the 20th century, living and working, education and culture were to be harmoniously combined in the first German garden city. A great idea. A social synthesis of the arts. Living and working in harmony.
What is left of it over 100 years later? Where does the myth live on? In the stories of the residents? In their way of life? In the architecture, the urban space? And what does good living mean to us today? What about our work-life balance? Rhythmic balance? Balancing on the edge? Or free falling at every step?
Guided by a voice, the audience – equipped with mp3 players and headphones – explores the winding paths and architectural testimonies of the neighborhood. In search of their own BALANCE, participants encounter the individual stories of residents, talking garden fences, and beat-setting sounds of the neighborhood.
All information at a glance
Duration: approx. 1 h 30 min
Output mp3 player: Visitor Center HELLERAU in the side building West (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 56, 01109 Dresden).
Opening hours: Mon – Sat/holidays 11:00 h – 18:00 h, Sun (01.05. – 31.10.) 13:00 h – 18:00 h
Latest starting time: 2 h before closing of the Visitor Center
Starting point: at the main entrance of the Festspielhaus
Costs: 6/4 euros, plus 20 euros deposit for mp3 players in cash
Route information: approx. 3 km, moderate walking pace
The audio walk is not barrier-free.
For “emergencies” regarding route guidance, the visitor center can be reached at 0351 264 62 46.
STUDIO URBANISTAN is a label for performative incidents in urban space and stands for the joint works of Clara Minckwitz and Julia Lehmann. At the intersection of built realities and hidden issues, STUDIO URBANISTAN has been creating new experiential and encounter spaces between audio tour, site-specific performance and research theater in collaboration with changing artists:inside, producers, performers:inside and/or the local population since 2014. In 2020 STUDIO URBANISTAN was a grantee of the RELOAD program of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. In 2022, SU received a residency grant under the #TakeHeart program. In 2022/23 SU is in the Artist Development Program of LOFFT – DAS THEATER and part of the FREISCHWIMMEN platform.
BALANCE is a co-production of STUDIO URBANISTAN and HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts. Funded by the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony. This project is co-financed by tax funds on the basis of the budget passed by the Saxon state parliament.
Artistic direction: STUDIO URBANISTAN (Julia Lehmann & Clara Minckwitz)
Concept & research: Julia Lehmann, Clara Minckwitz, Sofia Dona & Nicolas Schneider
Sound design & editing: Nicolas Schneider, Clara Minckwitz
Narrator: Anna-Katharina Muck
Voices from/about Hellerau: Gizem Aksu, Robert Badura & Claudia Dietze, Sofia Dona, Jutta Dyrchs, Heike Flamm & Raimund Lekscha, Sabine Heimann, Anette Hellmuth, Kai Kaden, Kerstin Hartmann, children of the 84th elementary school Dresden “In der Gartenstadt”, Katrin Meinig, Ingrid Pritzkow, Maria Poyiadji-Fink, Tanja Prohl & Tobias Günther, Dirk Wand, Sophie Wolfrum
Architectural voices: Julia Lehmann, Clara Minckwitz, Nicolas Schneider
Thanks to: Bürgerzentrum Waldschänke Hellerau e.V., Deutsche Werkbund Sachsen e.V., Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau, Team of Festspielhaus HELLERAU, Verein Bürgerschaft Hellerau e.V.