E4 Social Innovation Lab in Austria
The first BenchMarking - Colors of Love workshop took place in Vienna on July 4th, 2020. Austria was just recovering from the Corona Lockdowns and we were happy to be able to hold the workshop under the given circumstances. The concept had to be adapted due to the situation and could not be implemented in the much larger and more intensive form originally planned. However, we consciously decided against a digital form of implementation, but rather for implementation under the given circumstances.
The aim of BenchMarking is to get people out of their everyday life and to encourage them to design the public space themselves in a legal environment.
Please finde more pictures here on facebook. Our changemaker Karl Kilian with the support of his wife Teresa Kilian describes the first workshop as follows:
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
("Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" by John Lennon)
BENCHMARKING – COLOURS OF ♥
Live Action Wildganshof
(Text by Theresa & Karl Kilian)
On Saturday 4th of July we did an important part of the project BENCHMARKING – COLOURS OF ♥ in Wildganshof in the 3rd district of Vienna. The Wildganshof is a typical Wiener Hof, a Gemeindebau (municipal housing complex) built 1931-1933. Vienna is famous for its Gemeindebauten, where lots of different people live together and coexist in one environment that all the inhabitants share – the Hof – the court in the middle with its playgrounds and shared infrastructure. – So this was a perfect possibility to try the concept of the project BENCHMARKING – COLOURS OF ♥
At the beginning we (Theresa & Karl Kilian) were not sure if this new invented part of the project would work out. Austria just reopened after the Corona Lockdown and the initial concept was (from an artistic point of view) very different (see below the old concept to understand the altering).
But somehow it was a perfect opportunity we should not miss, because these days everybody is talking about a „second wave“ and like we mentioned in another text before: We want projects to be done, we want to see results, so we can learn and move on to the next step/project. Otherwise, you would have 50 unfinished projects and this is a real burden!
Like we said: At the beginning of the project in 2019 we wanted to do the project very differently, but with Covid-19 we all have to find new ways. Like we mentioned in the text STANDSTILL we were (and are) searching for new ways to make the project happen and to see the outcome and what we could learn.
So we did the Live Action Wildganshof and – we were surprised by the outcome.
But let’s take a look back, to better understand what happened (to us and our initial concept) in Wildganshof and which were the challenges on the spot for us and changes that came our way and how we changed our ideas and artistic approach in opening the project to the unexpected.
The original project had 3 parts:
1st Part (March / April 2020)
Finding the participating people
Finding their beloved colour and teaching them to „see“ all the colours contained in one colour
Interviewing the participants
2nd Part (April - September)
Arranging the colour for the Donaukanal display
Examining the interviews – considering further questions / topics
3rd Part – Realization itself(September / October)
Organizing a special event for the gathering and realization of BENCHMARKING – COLOURS OF ♥
Filming and documenting the process
So originally the artistic part consisted of
working and interacting with individuals
discussing their favourite colour and
finding their narrations behind
let the information sink in and think think think work work work and create
after this:
arranging these colours to an interesting display with communicating colours and narrations
make it happen, make it real
This is, what we wanted to do.
Then came Covid-19.
In June Bernd Herger and Marcus Schober came up with the idea, to do a BENCHMARKING – COLOURS OF ♥ performance on 4th of July at the Wildganshoffest. We (the artists) said yes, because we wanted to do something. We wanted to act. We wanted to see the idea come true. We wanted results!
The 1st new thing in this new Wildganshof context that came to our mind was again (and this time stronger) Joseph Beuys idea of the social sculpture. Beuys created the term "social sculpture" to embody his understanding of art's potential to transform society. As a work of art, a social sculpture includes human activity that strives to structure and shape society or the environment. The central idea of a social sculptor is an artist who creates structures in society using language, thoughts, actions, and objects. (Source: Wikipedia)
– A real interesting opportunity that could push the boundaries of our project.
– And to reveal the punch line: IT DID!
We are often dividing our work: Theresa is the introvert, doesn’t like the spotlight. Karl is the extrovert, the stage hog. So he plays the master of ceremony, while Theresa is filming, cutting and does the work in the background.
– So in Wildganshof it was time for the stage hog:
At the beginning I started with a short presentation, talking about senses, how we see the world and our perception of the world. How we see – and how we see colours. How one colour combines different colours and how we can train this. Then we talked about favourite colours and I showed the participants different colours and mixtures.
In the original concept we wanted to discuss this and the stories behind and then work with this in the studio and try different combinations and do artistic/scientific research.
But of course this was not possible in the Wildganshof performance. People wanted to paint and use the cans in the very moment. And it really was a smash and all participants were happy. Some had their own concepts in mind, some just wanted to colour the benches we brought. Some wanted to work together, some wanted to do their thing.
So I really was more like a master of ceremony who encouraged the participants to push their boundaries, to try new things, just – to be creative. I talked to the people and try to understand. – I saw, that one difference in-between professional artists and hobby painters might be, that a profession has trust in himself and his creative work. He doesn’t fear to look ridiculous. “Average people” do. So I encouraged them. And told them, that they could do nothing wrong!
The whole thing was new and unexpected to me.
We are used to control the whole process of the production of art. We have our ideas and concepts, and we try to be as precise as possible. But here everyone did what he wanted. And I encouraged them. I encouraged them to be more crazy, to be more free. – And I found out, that this is a major point for me in making art: To have no fear and to be free! – Freedom! Art is freedom! Doing art is freedom for everyone.
I started to accept and like my new role and I watched the social sculpture and how people behave and interact.
And I think we all learned a lot!
What I learned: The whole Wildganshof action was about the process not about the product. For an artist in the studio the art piece, the product is in the focus. Here it was the process. Let them do. Interact. Free them from their fear to fail. Show the possibility of failure (every artist knows this) and use this possibility to move on and improve.
On this 4th of July we all improved – a lot!
We went beyond our own limits, and so will the BENCHMARKING – COLOURS OF ♥ in the future.
Even, if the end product is no great work of art. That’s not important!
It’s not about a product/piece of art.
The process is the art!
Every human being is an artist who – from his state of freedom – the position of freedom that he experiences at first-hand – learns to determine the other positions of the total art work of the future social order. (Joseph Beuys)
