TWO ARTISTS SELECTED TO ATTEND EUARCA+ 2022 ARTS CAMP IN KASSEL, GERMANY

May 03, 2022
County Board Supervisor Chuck Erickson, (608) 212-8753
County Board

Dane County’s sister county of Kassel, Germany has invited two local artists to spend two weeks in Kassel creating a piece of art for an art exhibition occurring simultaneously with documenta 15, one of the most important exhibitions of modern and contemporary art in the world.　 The selected artists will participate in the EUARCA+ 2022, an arts camp organized and hosted by the County of Kassel for its sister regions in Europe, as well as Dane County.　

Following an application process by the Dane County Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission, artists Helen Hawley and Angelica Contreras were selected to participate in the arts camp.

Helen Hawley is a multimedia artist, and her projects include installation, painting, video, and texts. Her artwork has been shown in Chicago, Beijing, and New York.

"Thank you, Dane County and Kassel. I am so excited and so grateful to participate in EURARCA+ 22," said Hawley.

Angelica Contreras is a Latinx artist interested in exploring the relationships between identity, tradition, and pop culture, through its many layers, incorporating techniques like acrylic, oil, and collage into her pieces. Her work seeks to act as a bridge between various communities and cultures and thus reflecting on her own. She was a recipient of the Forward Art Prize in 2020, an annual award targeted to support the work of female artists in Dane County. She currently lives and works in Madison, Wisconsin, where she continues to create and showcase her art.

"I am very honored and excited to be representing Dane County and its diverse communities. EUARCA+2022 will be a great opportunity for me to grow professionally, as well as collaborate with other artists outside of Madison. I am looking forward to creating new work from this experience. Artist opportunities like this don’t come by that often, so I am very grateful," said Contreras. 　

The artists will work and stay at the Youth Education Site Sensenstein for over two weeks in August 2022 during documenta 15 and create new artwork to be exhibited and cataloged.　 On August 20 there will be an exhibition of the works. EUARCA+ 2022 participants will connect with one another and local Kassel artists, be involved in offering public engagement opportunities, and visit documenta 15.　 The EUARCA+ 2022 theme is "snapshot", a topic open to interpretation by the artist.

"Sending these artists to Germany to experience documenta 15 is a　great opportunity for Dane County and Kassel County to strengthen our partnership.　 At the same time we are providing an exciting opportunity for two talented, Dane County artists to showcase their talent along with artists from other countries," said Dane County Board Supervisor Chuck Erickson, District 23. "I look forward to seeing the works our artists create!"

The Dane County-Kassel relationship dates to 2007 when two counties entered into a formal sister county partnership.　 The agreement is designed to exchange ideas and build both economic and cultural partnerships.　 With a population of approximately 200,000, Kassel is smaller than Dane County (population 560,000) but shares many of the same characteristics including a university and an emerging high-tech sector.