Review dialogue box 2

The second round of the Dialogue Fields residency programme came to a close with a multi-faceted programme. The Estonian artist Katariin Mudist and the artist duo Marie Donike & Johannes Specks from Cologne have been guests at Sonnenberg since 19 May – they lived and worked in the district for six weeks and explored the theme of “favour” in their very own way. As a local spin-off, the residency was accompanied this time by Chemnitz ceramist Viet Phuong Nguyen (TIEV).

Viet Phuong Nguyen opened the intervention week from 21 to 28 June by showing his “vasesace.soleil” series at Galerie HINTEN – ceramic vases with the traces of the Sonnenberg inscribed in their surface structure. Imprints of floors, façades and fences tell of places of change, of personal connection and collective memory. The boldly installed ceramic vases were on display for the entire duration of the intervention week.

From this first station, our walk together did not lead far to the second: Katariin Mudist installed her work “Passby” on the corner of Zietenstraße and Jakobstraße : a collection of small, finely crafted clay figures inspired by the people passing by in the neighbourhood. Over the past few weeks, she has been documenting people passing by from this installation site, who then found themselves as small figures in the display case. As long as the artistic work defies external adversity, it will continue to exist.

The final stop on the walk was the old petrol station on Annenstraße. Here, visitors were able to discover the MINI MINI STOP by Marie Donike and Johannes Specks – a temporary meeting point between art, cuisine and tourism, which surprised visitors with humour, new regional specialities and Chemnitz souvenirs. A place for fleeting encounters, spontaneous conversations and short breaks, over lollipop sundaes, MINI grilled sausages, spruce lemonade and coffee.

The week was characterised by curious visitors, open conversations and small, often unplanned encounters. We are looking forward to the next Dialogue Field and invite everyone to stay up to date and come along to the upcoming events.