Fine art in confined spaces

[Editor’s Note: The following essay appeared (in German) in the e-journal nachtkritik.de on August 29, 2024, describing the political tensions surrounding the preparations of a young East German theatre Festival in Saxony as the state was preparing for the elections of September, 2024. In those elections the far right AFD (Alternative for Germany) party won in Saxony and neighboring Thuringia its first significant elections since World War II. The efforts to maintain a liberal, international art-based cultural event under these conditions provide an important chronicle for theatre makers everywhere.]

June 2023

In and around the cinema in the film city of Wolfen, which has been empty for years, our festival EAST 2023 will take place. It is a smaller edition of the festival – a weekend packed with art, performance, film and encounters and at the same time the prelude to the next, larger edition the following summer.

The festival explores and celebrates "the East" as a landscape of change for people, nature and coexistence. It aims to encourage exchange about the history, present and future of "the East," even beyond East Germany. What does East mean? What is specific, what is international? What can we learn from the past? What ideas and visions are there for the future?

This weekend, artists will present some of the participatory projects, recruit participants, give workshops and arrange first rehearsals. The weather is wonderful, the crowds are great, and the atmosphere is great. During dismantling, we talk to the mayor. He thanks us and at same time seems strangely powerless regarding future plans. He doubts that he will win the election. The right-wingers are simply too strong. In the evening, we hear the result of the mayoral election in the neighboring town of Raguhn-Jeßnitz: With 51 percent, the first AFD mayor in Germany is elected there.

September 2023

In Bitterfeld-Wolfen, the AFD candidate is 4 percent ahead of the runner-up, the incumbent from the CDU. There will be a run-off election. Resistance is stirring among the population, and an alliance for democracy and tolerance is quickly forged to prevent an AFD mayor. The EASt Festival has supported the alliance from the very beginning. In fact, in the election of the incumbent of the CDU, the mayor, is confirmed in office with 53 percent. The joy is great. Only 47 percent of voters voted for a candidate from a party classified as definitely right-wing extremist.

January 2024

We would like to use the city's former fire station as a festival center. The first inspection of this took place in the summer. The mayor welcomed the idea and hoped that it would improve the marketing of the property, which is to be sold. After that, a long back and forth begins, shifting responsibilities and delays. This situation is explained when we find out that the signing of the contract was delayed by internal city discussions about the user fees. At the meeting of the main finance committee on January24, 2024, representatives of the AFD and Pro Bitterfeld-Wolfen demanded that the city charge us a fee for the use of the vacant building.

February 2024

We are in the middle of preparations for the festival, which this time will take place on the grounds of the former ORWO film factory in Wolfen. In addition to the use of the former fire station, which is owned by the city, we also want a concert in the council chamber of the Bitterfeld-Wolfen town hall, the former headquarters of the IG Farben Group. The mayor reveals to us in conversation that it was unwise for the festival to expose itself politically when he was elected. It is now much more difficult for him to support the festival. Excuse me? Without the support of the Alliance for Democracy and Tolerance, he would probably no longer be in office? True, but the situation has now become much more complicated. We don't really understand what he means.

A few days earlier, there had also been a demonstration in Bitterfeld-Wolfen after Correctiv's revelations about a secret meeting of AFD politicians and right-wing extremists in Potsdam, where plans for the deportation of migrant fellow human beings were discussed. The more than 300 participants had been filmed person by person at close range by the team of the local AfD member of parliament. The member of the Bundestag himself had insulted participants on the fringes of the event, shoved them and punched the face of the mayor, threatening that there would be consequences!

Now, in conversation in the town hall, we are supposed to provide assurances that the art shown at the festival will be politically neutral. We don't understand exactly what politically neutral means. The mayor explains to us that the works of art must not contain any explicit political statements. We argue that there is artistic freedom in Germany and that neither we nor he can force the invited artists to political neutrality – however understood. Everything else is censorship. The mayor also rejects censorship.

A few days after this conversation, the phone rings: The mayor wants to explain himself once again: He does not want to restrict anything, but there must be no works of art that explicitly oppose certain people and parties. Especially in the council chamber of the city, which is not normally rented out for events, the city must also demand its neutrality requirement from us. We promise him that. There remains a queasy feeling about the situation here on site.

March 2024

We receive the first draft of the usage contract for the former fire station. The usage fee is still open.

April 2024

On April 8, one day before our program presentation, we sign the contract for the use of the fire station with the city. We pay a symbolic amount of 1 euro. At the press conference, we announce that Lord Mayor Armin Schenk will take over the patronage of this year's festival edition. On April 11, 2024, the mayor will inform the city's main and finance committee about the conclusion of the contract.

May 2024

We are talking about the arrangement of the works of art on the course of the festival site. In particular, we are discussing two works by students: Mascha Breuer, from the class for photography and moving images at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, would like to show a photo from her archive showing a calf with a swastika shaved into its fur. The thesis deals with the growth and the associated legitimization and normalization of fascist/racist slogans and symbols in public spaces. The artist wants to place the photo on a wall on the grounds of the film factory, which is littered with right-wing extremist symbolism and slogans, including two swastikas carved into it.

Ukrainian artist Alevtyna Melnychuk from the Städelschule in Frankfurt (Main) wants to show mock-ups of Molotov cocktails and instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails, which were distributed in preparation for the imminent Russian invasion in the early Ukraine war. With the beer bottles, as distributed by a beer brewery in Kyiv, she wants to refer to the sudden collapse of normality of civilian life in her country. We are aware that both works could be controversial. We decide to show them anyway.

We are now in the construction week of the festival. An employee of the Municipal House of Culture contacts us about whether a permit can be granted for a work of art on the doors of the house. A student shows the diversity of the Cyrillic alphabet – which is not, as is often assumed, only used in Russian – with the sentence "This is not Russian." The employee was afraid that the Kulturhaus will be attacked because of the artwork, since "that would also be a sign of a diverse society, that people who understand the artwork differently throw stones."

June 2, 2024

The festival is open. The announced storm comes at exactly the right time, when most of the spectators are already on our guided tours and thus in the dry. As expected, the artworks of the two students are causing a sensation. Residents call the police. An employee of the neighboring kindergarten believes that the photo with the calf is a right-wing extremist provocation or a right-wing extremist work of art (and a right-wing festival in our country?). Even the fire brigade is called. They realize that the beer bottles are by no means real Molotov cocktails.

Together with the residents, the police, the public order office, the fire brigade, we discuss what is art and what is not. The police certify that both works are recognizably art, and that therefore – unlike the Nazi graffiti next to the artwork – there is no need for action on their part. The swastikas and slogans are pasted over and painted over by the police. The relationship with the local police and also the kindergarten teacher next door is good and constructive, but in the conversation, it becomes very clear once again that there are no things that can be taken for granted or that communication works differently here than in places like Leipzig or Berlin. We decide – in consultation with the artist – not to show the Molotov cocktails anymore, because without her presence we lack the capacity to deal appropriately with the requests for them. The controversies generated by works of art, we think, should also be conducted responsibly.

June 3, 2024

The dramaturg Carl Hegemann, who visits our festival, criticizes our decision. He speaks of increasing self-censorship in the art world and talks enthusiastically about how he brought German neo-Nazis onto the stage 20 years ago together with Christoph Schlingensief in a Hamlet production in Zurich. And how frightened the people of Zurich were. But bringing Nazis onto the stage today – in East Germany – hardly creates a contrast to reality: they are omnipresent and spread their opinions everywhere without being asked and loudly. Hegemann looks thoughtful.

Aljoscha Begrich from the festival management had tried something similar with theatre director Oliver Frljić six years ago in a project at the Maxim Gorki Theater: They had dramatized the election program of the AFD. The evening only worked in the very special bubble of the Gorki Theater. Just as Schlingensief's Hamlet with neo-Nazis probably only worked against the secure background of the liberal bourgeoisie of a city like Zurich. In the Gorki Bubble, affirmative criticism worked. However, when two people came out as AFD members in an audience discussion after one of the performances and thanked them for the great production, it was us who were shocked. We were not prepared for something like that. Talk to the right? Applause from the right? The opposite had been intended. Now what?

A little later, it became increasingly clear that in order to deal with right-wing extremism, it might be better to go where it is not a marginal phenomenon. In 2020, the Kulturpark e.V. association was founded by Christine Leyerle, Ludwig Haugk and Aljoscha Begrich and work on the EAST Festival began. With the move to such a socially and politically changed environment, however, the reception and entertainment patterns are changing. The reception of autonomous art presupposes a bourgeois understanding of art. And that, as we find again and again, is apparently not or no longer to be taken for granted. It is possible that the east is also a pioneer of a general development here: attempts to exert influence on art. use it or even attack artistic and scientific freedom are increasing throughout the country. They test the boundaries of what can be said and done. In the meantime, an attack on academic freedom from the Ministry of Education and Research is no longer so embarrassing that it is enough for the minister to resign. Ten years ago, this was an unthinkable process.

June 6, 2024

The AFD member of the Bundestag for the Bitterfeld-Wolfen constituency files a complaint against us. He claims that the artwork by Alevtyna Melnychuk (which is no longer on display) violates the weapons law and calls for armed attack. He demands the immediate termination of the festival and the resignation of the mayor. This is completely unfounded, but since it is a member of the Bundestag, the news spreads in all media. The chairman of the Pro Wolfen citizens' association is calling for the festival center in the fire station to be vacated immediately. A day later, the AFD member of parliament publishes another statement: His complaint and his demands – as always – would probably lead to nothing.

He therefore called on everyone to vote for the AFD in the local elections and the European elections scheduled for the weekend. They are able to weigh up which events belong to Bitterfeld-Wolfen, and which do not.

June 7, 2024

The open discussion round "Question of the Day" is about the future of the Bitterfeld- Wolfen region. A number of citizens are speaking out. They talk about the many positive developments in the region. The moderator of the talk, Sylvie Küsten, also addresses Viviana Medina, an artist of the festival, whose Cuban father had worked as a contract worker in the GDR. For her and her son, she says, there is no future in this region, and I'm sure everyone here knows that. Then there was an embarrassed silence. We don't know what to say to that. In one fell swoop, we fell out of the positive narrative about the East that we actually wanted. But the situation is just as bleak. What does this mean for the future of our festival? What security concepts would we need in the future? And for whose future are we working here?

June 8, 2024

One day before the local elections and the European elections, an automobile demonstration against "the traffic light" will take place in front of the Bitterfeld-Wolfen town hall and thus directly in front of the festival center. It is not registered by the AFD, but by an alliance from Dessau. We inquire in advance at the Mobile Counselling against the Right (MBR) what we have to prepare for. We learn that it is a loose alliance, "conspiracy theorists, friends of Russia, neo-Nazis."Probably not violent, but we would have to reckon with 250 vehicles. According to the findings of the Mobile Advisory Service, the festival itself is not directly targeted by the demo. We are, well, relieved.

The MBR offers to be on site as an observer on this day and establishes a connection to the hotline for victims of right-wing violence just in case. The security company we are working with is not available on this day. The public order office and the police see no problem. They explain that there have been many Monday demonstrations recently and never any serious incident. We are planning a puppet parade by American artists Oscar Olivo and Elsa Saade on this day. The police promise to lead the car demo past the puppet parade without contact.

So, it doesn't happen. The route is different from what the police had previously communicated and crosses the route of our parade. The parade is stopped by the police and now has to pass the line of cars on the side of the road and end crammed into a small square in front of the Kulturhaus for about thirty minutes. It's a hot day. Their own powerlessness and the sight of hundreds of vehicles – SUVs, company vehicles, cars, trucks – has something apocalyptic and thought-provoking about it.

Hardly anyone calls and reacts. The musicians of the puppet parade continue to play, but they don't stand a chance against the sound of car horns and loudspeaker systems, from which aggressive, right-wing propaganda gushes incessantly. Some participants in our parade start dancing demonstratively. Most of them, however, stare stunned in the direction of the vehicles. A POC artist later rightly says that she did not feel protected by us at that moment. Other participants speak of a feeling of being at the mercy of others. We had tried to prepare for this encounter as best we could, but when it took place, we ourselves panicked ourselves and were overwhelmed.

The line dancers from Wolfen-Nord, who are participating in the performance Tyrannosaurus Regina by Kolektiv hannsjana, ask us what we thought of the car demo. We tend to be rather cautious with political discussions, so we manoeuvre around; speak of democracy and freedom of demonstration. "I'm not going to let these assholes take my city away from me! You have to stop them now," suddenly shouts one of the dancers in cowboy hats. And yes, a single couple found their way from the right-wing demo to us, got a program booklet and threw money into the donation box. Nevertheless, the encounter with this motorcade and our paralysis in the process seem to us symptomatic of our dealings with the right-wing extremists in general.

June 9, 2024

Parallel to the European elections, the local elections will take place in Saxony-Anhalt. The state association of the AFD, which is classified by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as definitely right-wing extremist in Saxony-Anhalt, and the citizens' association Pro Wolfen, which is close to it, together get over 50 percent of the seats in the city parliament. Some festivalgoers are shocked and cry: "You can leave again, but we have to live here." Another says: "I'm a tradesman, but I don't want to pay taxes here if they get the money!" But what unsettles us most this weekend are some conversations with well-meaning visitors: They think our festival is great, they are grateful that something like this is taking place in their city and region. But after about 5 minutes, they use words or make statements that we find so racist that it leaves us speechless. This is obviously not done with the intention of provoking – it seems perfectly normal. Continue talking? But how?

There can be no talk of a firewall against the right. We are overwhelmed. We are making a festival for mutual interest, but at what level do we actually have to be interested in primarily racist and sexist positions? It's in our statutes that we don't want that, and we didn't kick anyone out. Where does interest end and where does clear political opposition begin? Have we shown too little flag?

June 11, 2024

A few days later, an appointment at the town hall: Here, too, we are overwhelmed. There is no longer a majority in the city in favor of a festival for the next five years. The use of urban areas and buildings is difficult to imagine. But also, disappointment that the festival has developed so politically. We don't understand what is meant. Yes, there was political art, but also a lot of completely non-political offerings from water slides to handicraft workshops to concerts. Too political? The works of art with the swastika and the Molotov cocktails did not have to be, says the mayor. He expects better care there. We say that these processes were supervised and that we did not want a debate about censorship under any circumstances. But the mayor's disappointment is genuine. He can no longer defend the festival in front of the city parliament, that is simply no longer possible.

We ask what else would in fact be possible at all, apart from perhaps bouncy castles? Yes, that is also a problem, admits the mayor: Others hold district festivals with bouncy castles and get no money at all. This is another reason why the festival is viewed critically. The envy is already there. Even the fact that we don't get any money at all from the city and the district can be used against us in this perspective: The AFD promotes the impression that in this society certain projects "from those at the top" get money and others don't. We think: yes, in a democracy, democracy-promoting projects are more likely to be supported, while torchlight marches and solstice celebrations are not so well received. But we are not saying that, rather that it should be open to everyone to apply for funds. In our experience, the juries of the foundations are even most happy when impulses come from the regions themselves.

We propose to present the festival in the city parliament, to explain once again what positive effects have already resulted for the city in recent years. "Oh, no, not reasonable!" We fall silent in horror. We see a mayor who is not sworn in even eight months after his election because the AFD contested the election. A mayor who does not have a majority in parliament, who is not sure whether his own parliamentary group is still behind him, who cannot follow his own impulses because he has been driven and cornered by the AfD for years. And just as in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, we think this will be true not only here, but also in Staßfurt, Nordhausen, Rostock, Guben, Bautzen... Much of what is discussed in the metropolises no longer arrives here. Or only as a grimace, as a grotesque alien image.

June15, 2024

The last festival weekend has begun. With its nationwide forums for art, freedom and democracy, the DaKü Fund is making a stop here in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. Their motto is: “The art of remaining many.” We are proud and happy to be part of this nationwide campaign. But we also have a queasy feeling. The fund comes by with a truck that is used as a stage and is adorned with a large golden heart. They want to appear loud, colorful, glittery. But such a truck, which comes from the capital and sets up for a day as a mobile stage for speeches and workshops in an industrial wasteland, can also be misunderstood. People who drop by for a short time, for whatever purpose, are not very popular here. The DaKü Fund is faced with the challenge of creating a program that works in places as diverse as the Sophiensaele in Berlin and the town hall in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. But between the signs, words and symbols that are understood at the avant-garde Sophiensaele in Berlin and those that are understood here lie – we fear – worlds apart. Self-censorship again? Or justified caution?

In addition, the Minister of Culture of Saxony-Anhalt, Rainer Robra, has announced that he will be present on this day. This visit is very important for us because, as a free project, we are dependent on state funds without continuous institutional funding. As the general tension rises, so do the temperatures. The opening of the day is nice: a lot of people from local initiatives have come. The puppet theatre Das Helmi is rehearsing a ghost train scene in cooperation with people with disabilities from the local Diakonie {A German charitable association of Protestant Churches]. The children celebrate our water slide. Speeches are held in front of the poster of the DaKü fund. “The Art of Remaining Many” is on display. But are we still The Many or is that autosuggestion?

The conversation with the Minister of Culture goes well. He is very taken with the festival, emphasizes its importance and says that we saw in Sunday's election that posters "against the right" were not enough to have much effect. The inability to solidify this general feeling "against the right" into concrete political projects is certainly at the core of the problem.

Otherwise, the day takes a nice course. In the evening there is a punk concert by the local punk band AbRAUM and when football fans come after the end of the public viewing and slide with German flags at midnight together with the punks, children, line dancers and queer hipsters and football fans, we have the feeling that maybe everything is not so bad, and art can be really meaningful.

June 16, 2024

The festival ends with a final picnic with over 300 people from Bitterfeld-Wolfen. In many speeches, it becomes clear how important the festival is for the city right now – as a place of encounter, exchange, self-assurance. It provides a space of possibility that gives hope because it demonstrates, at least temporarily, new and different forms of community and coexistence. Sometimes that sounds almost like a moral mandate that threatens to overwhelm the festival and us.

Two days later, the AFD member of the Bundestag who had reported us to the city sits in the city parliament. He has a double mandate and uses it in the first session to attack the festival. He quotes sentences from interviews that are supposed to prove that the festival's sponsoring association is not neutral and not worthy of funding. This coincides with his party's strategy of questioning the non-profit status of associations because they are politically active against the right. This is a strategy that has been successful: Many associations in the east are scaling back their political commitment because otherwise they are threatened with the withdrawal of their non-profit status.

July 2024

"The most noble task of all art is to cultivate cultural identity. German identity is thus also the result of German art, especially the stage art that takes place in public space," says the AfD election program in Saxony-Anhalt. And "promoting cultural identity" is also something we try to do at our festival when people talk about East German identities, motherhood, queer history or the origin of first names.

"At best," the AFD election program continues, "meaningless entertainment, off-the- beaten-path or international things without reference to our country are still shown on our stages." Yes, there may be something to that. Local references, concrete stories of the local people, that also interests us. "The AFD wants to deal with state and tax Local references, concrete stories of the local people, that's also what interests us. "The AFD wants to use state and tax money only to promote art that is fundamentally affirmative of its own German culture," it says in its election program. "As our budget applications have shown, we are willing to advocate massive cuts. Agitation against one's own people does not have to be financed by the state that consists of this people. In this respect, as well as in other points of cultural policy, the cultural-political turnaround that Hungary is making under Viktor Orban is a role model and inspiration for us." – Okay. You can prepare for the worst.

End of July 2024

The curatorial team meets for a follow-up discussion. The AFD had over 20% of the votes in Bitterfeld-Wolfen when the first East Festival was held two years ago. Today it is over 40 percent. Have we achieved anything? Is the idea that art can contribute anything to the preservation of democratic structures even correct? Of course, art can't do it alone.

As things stand now, it is even to be feared that it will be the first to be destroyed. On the one hand, because cuts are probably to be made again soon, and on the other hand, because it exposes itself to society. It is not only in eastern Germany that artistic and academic freedom is exposed to considerable attacks. And unfortunately, not only on the part of the AfD. Does what we are experiencing in Bitterfeld-Wolfen provide an insight into the future for Germany as a whole? And if so, how can we analyze, share and pass on our experiences? How can we develop strategies of solidarity and resistance in a highly competitive cultural sector? We probably don't have much time left.