Our Dates

The Art of Assembly XXXI: Neigbourhoodly Constellations

"The Art of Assembly" is a nomadic series of talks on the potential and limits of assemblies in art, activism and politics, curated by Florian Malzacher. Guests of the XXXI edition "The arbitrary constellations of neighbourhood" are Ulf Bohmann (Technische Universität Chemnitz), Alexander Koch (New Patrons) and Anna Rispoli (artist). The event takes place within " Chemnitz European Capital of Culture 2025".

10. Sep 2025, 6–8.30pm
Chemnitz, Stadtbad, Mühlenstr. 27, 09111 Chemnitz
Admission free

What kind of assembly is a neighbourhood? Partly choice, partly coincidence, partly shaped by market forces, class and politics, we find ourselves living in proximity to people we often, if at all, barely know. And yet, there is an expectation embedded in this closeness: the neighbourhood helps construct a sense of home, it is part of our social environment, it is even symbolically charged – a synonym for social care as well as social control. What responsibilities does it entail? What possibilities for shared agency does it offer? And how can artistic strategies contribute to the constantly shifting constellations it comprises?

Sociologist Ulf Bohmann looks at spatial relationships, power relations and civil society of the East German city of Chemnitz and beyond. Artist Anna Rispoli is known for her long-term, socially engaged projects that activate communities and transform public space. Alexander Koch, co-founder of Neue Auftraggeber (New Patrons), presents a model of democratic commissioning that repositions art within the structures of everyday life. The 31st edition of “The Art of Assembly” reflects on neighbourhood as a space of negotiation, imagination and shared action.

Following the event, all presentations will be available as videos and the entire evening as a podcast: www.art-of-assembly.net

Further information: www.chemnitz2025.de/en and www.art-of-assembly.net/material/alexander-koch-negotiating-commons-conflict-art-and-mediation-in-neighbourhood-democracy

Back
Many people stand around the artwork the Monster of Tours and interact

Discourse
In German 

With Susanne Burmester, Denis Bury, Holger Friese, Gerrit Gohlke, Kathrin Jentjens, Alexander Koch and Lena Ziese
Presented by Antje Stahl

1st event: 19.02.19, 19:00 , Ticket: 5 Euro

Around 500 projects have already been commissioned in Europe. For this opening evening, we will discuss the motivations behind them, the topics that top people's lists, and how artists come up with answers to the challenges on-site. How do the projects work? How does one become a patron? Who pays for it? And how might art be able to assert itself in the midst of life as a contribution to democratic cohesion? On this first of six evenings in the “Whatever You Want!” event series in the Grüner Salon, mediators for the New Patrons report on civic projects with international artists.

2nd…

more

Berlin's Best is an award by KREATIV KULTUR BERLIN, the advisory centre for cultural funding and creative industries in Berlin. Awards are given to actors who offer solutions, networks that move things forward or companies that create added value for others - and the Gesellschaft der Neuen Auftraggeber is there as a best practice example. In an interview with Berlin's Best, Alexander Koch, Gerrit Gohlke and Karola Matschke reveal more about the New Patrons and the idea behind them.

Read here

more

On 18.11.2018, Alexander Koch will give a lecture at the Athens Biennale as co-founder of the New Clients Movement in Germany. He will present particularly exciting projects from all over Europe and put them up for debate.

More info (in English)

more

From 26 to 27 October 2018, the artistic management team of the Berlin Bärenzwinger is organising a symposium in Neukölln. This event aims to bring together artistic, academic and urban policy positions to discuss the past, present and future use, function and significance of this place together. Alexander Koch is invited as a guest and will present Die Neuen Auftraggeber as a structural model for a contemporary culture on behalf of the citizens.

Further info and participation

more
Editorial of the magazine #31 of the Federal Cultural Foundation with the title Your commission please!

"Tobias Asmuth retells a recent episode from the history of the small village of Blessey in the French province, how the collaboration with the world-renowned Swiss artist Rémy Zaugg changed the village and the self-confidence of its inhabitants. It is an outstanding example of the lasting effects that the NEUE AUFTRAGGEBER, which have also been funded in Germany by the Federal Cultural Foundation since spring 2017, can have." from the editorial of the magazine #31 of the Federal Cultural Foundation.

Read the article here

more