Two Art Is Us Community Café events were held in Dresden, Germany. The first one was implemented on the 22.04.2022 in the space of the initiative “null7b”, a place for dialogue and exchange, which serves as an open platform for workshops, lectures and events. Its 80 supporting members focus on working for cultural participation, social engagement, active citizenship, creativity, openness, and community.
Doreen Siegmund & Samuel Fink, the event moderators, welcomed the audience asked them to adopt a body posture. This request did not refer at all to an inner attitude towards certain topics, but primarily to our body posture. The theatre pedagogue Samuel Fink practiced the so-called theatre pose with all the guests: a fixed posture that nevertheless allows us to react flexibly to any situation. The audience remained in this posture for 3 minutes and took several deep breaths. Then people were given the chance to reflect on how they felt during the activity.
Doreen Siegmund made a presentation about the Art Is Us project, the e-learning platform and the 4 microlearning courses. The participants had the possibility to register for the Art is Us e-learning platform, navigate and ask questions concerning the ABC – Art for Building Community learning programme.
Later on, a discussion followed focused on building attitude and how to deal with the crisis as well as how our artistic identity is fostered through building a resilient and open community, especially after the COVID-19 Pandemic. There was a discussion on philosophers such as Marcus Aurelius, but also German authors such as Günther Grass or Wolfgang Herrndorf and their artistic approach to difficult times and what influence these had on their lives.
