DANE COUNTY ANNOUNCES OPPORTUNITY FOR LOCAL ARTIST TO EXHIBIT WORK IN GERMANY

January 27, 2017
County Supervisor Chuck Erickson - 608-212-8753
County Board

Sister County of Kassel to fund two-week trip in August

 

Dane County’s sister county of Kassel, Germany has again invited a local artist to spend two weeks in Kassel creating a piece of art for an art exhibition occurring simultaneously with the documenta, one of the most important exhibitions of modern and contemporary art in the world.  Kassel is offering this extraordinary opportunity for an artist to participate in the 2017 EUARCA , an arts camp organized and hosted by the County of Kassel for its sister regions in Europe, as well as Dane County. 

 

“Any culture is best represented in its arts, so a cultural exchange based on the arts just makes perfect sense,” said Supervisor Chuck Erickson, the chair of the Kassel-Dane Sister County Task Force.

 

Participating artists will work and stay at the Youth Education Site Sensenstein for over two weeks in August 2017 during documenta 14 and create new artwork to be exhibited and cataloged.  On August 26 there will be an exhibition of the works in the Brickworks Museum in Kaufungen (www.hessisches-ziegeleimuseum.de). EUARCA 2017 participants will connect with one another and local Kassel artists, be involved in offering public engagement opportunities, and visit documenta 14.  The 2017 EUARCA theme is “On The Run”, a topic open to interpretation by the artist.

 

“Participating in documenta 14 is an outstanding opportunity for Dane County artists. The theme is especially relevant given our world today, in Europe as well as the United States,” said Erickson.

 

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 193,000, Kassel is smaller than Dane County (population 523,000) but shares many of the same characteristics including a university and an emerging high-tech sector.

 

Over the past ten years, Kassel and Dane County have remained committed to the goals set forth in the cooperative agreement and have participated in several exchanges. The visit is the fourth artistic exchange between the counties. In 2012, Madison sculptor Michael Velliquette visited Kassel for two weeks for the EUARCA exhibition. Velliquette created a 12-foot multi-media sculpture called Power Source.  In 2014, Christian Schauderna, a photographer from Kassel, created an exhibit at Edgewood College.  Last fall, the Edgar Knecht Trio visited Dane County and held a number of jazz performances. 

 

The cost of the EUARCA experience will be entirely borne by Kassel.  Applications from individual artists living in Dane County are being accepted now, and are due February 20 by, 4 p.m.  The participant will be selected by the Dane County Commission on Cultural Affairs following a peer review process.

 

More information is available at  http://www.culturalaffairsgrants.com/getCurrentOpportunities.do