A Fair Land

Project

267923

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Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS : existing completed examples

Project title

A Fair Land

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Description

Great visions should start on a small scale, but all too often people’s everyday experiences play a subordinate role in this. This creative potential was awakened in “A Fair Land Pforzheim”. A temporary garden art project was created on Pforzheim’s Waisenhausplatz as a place for social exchange and togetherness. Everything that happened in this sustainable model village had value: socially, ecologically, economically and certainly aesthetically.

Where was your project implemented in the EU?

When was your project implemented?

Has your project benefited from EU programmes or funds?

Which programme(s) or fund(s)? Provide the name of the programme(s)/fund(s), the strand/action line as relevant and the year.

Please provide a summary of your project

“I shut my eyes to keep out the sight of the sun glittering on this fair abode of gardens, and for a moment there passed before them a phantasmagoria of another day.” William Morris: News from Nowhere, 1890. According to which criteria should the sustainable development of society take place? Here, sustainability research cites the triad of social, economic and ecological factors, which must be brought into harmonious balance in order to plan and secure a livable society for the future. Great visions should start on a small scale, but all too often the experiences of people’s everyday lives play a subordinate role here. The initiators of “A Fair Land” wanted to awaken this creative potential by transforming the orphanage square in the city of Pforzheim into a place of social exchange and togetherness for six months. The orphanage built on this site in the 18th century is considered the nucleus of Pforzheim’s jewelry and watchmaking industry. A good 250 years later, a greenhouse and a large Straw Bale Garden for over 200 zucchinis stand on the same spot – a kind of model village with its own on-site economy. For and from the harvest, further products are created in workshops with the participation of the visitors. The School of Design asks in “A Fair Land” questions about Making Everyday. Is what is created here desirable, useful and achievable? For example, anyone who has had the experience of making their own plate or spoon for a shared dinner – recipes based on zucchini, of course – with the simplest of means may feel the power to be able to shape larger social contexts together. In order for this to succeed, not only Pforzheim University School of Design, which developed the overall concept with the British artists organisation Grizedale Arts, but also the City of Pforzheim and its citizens, the Carlo Schmid School, the Integration Management, the Stadtjugendring, the Solidarity Farm of the Auenhof and many other stakeholders have been involved.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability and how these have been met

Of course, the idea of “A Fair Land” was more than just a harvest. We experimented with architecture, art, and design to combine social activation, co-production, poetic spaces, and social, ecological and economic sustainability. The "Fair Land Pforzheim" is a small social utopia designed as a collaborative model village. Everything that happened in the “Fair Land” had value: Ecologically the concept is based on the Cradle to Cradle approach. The plants grow on the previously fermented straw bales, which are almost completely composted after harvesting. The Village buildings are designed from recycled or recyclable materials and can easily be reused in another round. However, a sustainable economy was also created on site, as everything that was created started from the planted zucchini. These provided the shape for the cups and bowls of clay, were fermented and pickled in vessels or formed the basis for all the dishes in “A Fair Land”. The seating, especially the stool, and all the cutlery were made by the residents themselves in the individual workshops. In return, food was provided free of charge. Despite Corona, the response to the project in 2020 was huge among the population of Pforzheim – especially among hard-to-reach groups such as the unemployed (the unemployment rate in Pforzheim is 7.2%) and migrants (the population with a migrant background in Pforzheim is 28.2%). In compliance with all Corona requirements, the project succeeded in initiating a dialogue between all parts of the population and in bringing together Pforzheim’s diverse population – for harvesting, eating and in workshops. During the encounters in “A Fair Land”, getting to know each other and shaping the urban space together were exemplary. In retrospect, a plethora of initiatives have been formed to fuel social interaction and the dawn of a livable future in the city and region on the way to Ornamenta 2024, a major event that will shape ecological, economic and social identity.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met

Of course, the idea of “A Fair Land” was more than just a harvest. We experimented with architecture, art, and design to combine social activation, co-production, poetic spaces, and ecological and economic sustainability. In “A Fair Land Pforzheim”, cooperation was written large, so that in addition to numerous local actors, several artists also contributed to the success. On the roof of the greenhouse designed by pupils of the Carlo Schmid School, the work I=PxAxT by British artist Liam Gillick reminds us that any vision for society as a whole must make its reckoning with the environment. Drastically, the IPAT formula Gillick uses for his work illustrates the interrelationships of population size (P), affluence (A) and technology (T) and their impact on the environment (I). The equation, which dates back to the 1960s, has not lost its validity today and is teached in the studying Resource Efficiency Management course at Pforzheim University for illustrating the connection between sustainability and climate protection. The “Fair Land Pforzheim” and it’s straw bale garden were inspired by “A Fair Land” in the courtyard of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin (realized 2016), where Grizedale Arts moved their entire methodology to the museum for several months, creating an artist-led functional system for living on site. The ambition of the project was to create from a bare minimum in terms of materials a maximum on meaningful things and experiences. The installations of the artist Rirkrit Tiravanija has often the form of spaces for eating, cooking, reading or making music together. For the “Fair Land Pforzheim”, Rirkrit Tiravanija set up an improvised cookshop with a solar stove and contributed his favorite recipe for Thai Green Curry. Jonathan Meese designed especially for “A Fair Land” flags. The benches and tables used for the communal meals and workshops came from a former workshop with the architecture and design collective Assemble.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion and how these have been met

Of course, the idea of “A Fair Land” was more than just a harvest. We experimented with architecture, art, and design to combine social activation, co-production, poetic spaces, and ecological and economic sustainability. For six months, but especially during the Activity Week, “A Fair Land” was a meeting place for all citizens, regardless of age group and origin. Meeting across social boundaries was the magic word and many actors were involved to create “A Fair Land”: “StudioDrei” professionally led ceramics workshops open to all but especially designed for the integration of refugees, which were specifically invited by the integration management of Pforzheim. The City Youth Ring organized different activities and cooking events with a mobile cooking wheel. The city theater from the neighborhood developed participatory stage puppets for the performance of Beethoven’s opera “Fidelio”. Foodsharing distributed ‘rescued’ food.The “Fair Land” team of students and graduates built stools, took care of the plants, cooked and supervised the harvest. The Bohrain Förderschule and the Gustav-Heinemann-Schule donated their self-made solar stoves. The Carlo Schmid School construct and built the greenhouse for zucchini cultivation with a predominantly migrant, vocational preparation class. The Demeter farm Auenhof contributed zucchini plants and irrigation. The city of Pforzheim supported with benevolent permissions from the Office of Public Order, the Parks Office helps with fertiliser and last but not least the European Commissioner of Pforzheim raised the European flag in the “Fair Land” for Europe Week in May. Many other planned activities fell out due to the pandemic, like the World Children’s Day planned by City Youth Ring; activities of an environmental working group from the Kepler Gymnasium, the open stages of the Kulturhaus Osterfeld, the Fair Trade Days and climate protection week of the Environmental Protection Office, but especially the participatory “Fair Festival”

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

The Waisenhausplatz is an area in Pforzheim’s city center between the municipal theater and the Enz River. The large undeveloped open space was created by the complete destruction of buildings during the devastating air raid on Pforzheim in February 1945. The site where the Pforzheim orphanage stood is considered the nucleus of the local jewelry and watchmaking industry, a tradition with which the city identifies to this day. The floor plan of the former orphanage is marked by a ground sculpture. The open space is considered an urban meeting place, but is always used in isolation by individuals and groups. Since there is no sense of “we” at the site, the large area has often been misappropriated for trash disposal and as a dog pound. The “Fair Land Pforzheim” project succeeded in rebranding the square as a place for social interaction and dialogue. The citizens followed the construction attentively, took responsibility for the planted zucchini, were happy about the harvest and participated in the offered workshops in large numbers. Vandalism was completely absent. Especially during the “Activity Week”, the square became the secret center of social life. During the Corona loosenings, the square was used for joint workshops, meals and recreational activities. Since the dismantling in the summer of 2020, there have been efforts on the part of the citizens to continue their “Fair Land”, an endeavor that the city is eager to take up in the run-up to the Ornamenta 2024. The central values of “A Fair Land”, the compatibility of social, ecological and economic sustainability – useful, desirable, achievable? – have since been incorporated into the preparations for the upcoming major event and will be applied to the entire urban area in 2024.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the project and civil society have been involved in the project and what has been the impact of this involvement on the project

The outstanding success of “A Fair Land” can illustrated best by some representive examples for a new social togetherness: Angelo and Donatella, a Pforzheimer couple origined in Italy asked if they could pick zucchini flowers from the straw bale garden. This single question quickly turned into an exchange about zucchini blossom recipes and the offer to cook in the Fair Land – what happened two days later. Heike, a foodsharing supporter, helped enthusiastically to prepare Rirkrit Tiravanija’s Thai curry recipe. By conversation and cooking she told that she never cooked for her own or like so many visitors, had not done for a long time. Two young Iranian women told in the ceramics course about their traditionally ceramic techniques of their village, which they show us immediately on the next day. Liam Gillick’s IPAT formula with the infoboard were often the opener of interesting conversation about issues of climate change – useful arts in the best way. Some kids harvested first times of their life and eat fresh zucchini. Iraquian men told by harvesting about their origin gardens, typical iraquian vegetable and recipes. Different first-year students of the Design School had for the current semester only online courses due to the Corona restrictions. They built the Pforzheim stool kit at home, brought the finished stool to the “Fair Land” and met their study-colleagues for the first time in reality, having a dinner together with the dean and other university staff. A young German family called the city integration management to register for the weekly ceramic workshop because refugees told them that their participation caused of the invitation of the integration management. Integration in a completely different way. Punks gifted a tobacco plant for our greenhouse and asked for the water tank key for giving their dogs drinking water and offered in exchange to took care for the "Fair Land". And there are many more stories to tell ...

Please highlight the innovative character of the project

Art often reaches only a small interested target group and not marginalised population groups with their own daily challenges. Socially oriented practices or useful art is a suitable tool to bring art closer to a broad audience and to create social added value beyond beautiful art impulses. The concept of “A Fair Land” follows the central idea of the English art historian and social reformer John Ruskin, one of the most famous contemporaries in the 19th century, today known only in specialist circles: Art can be useful, and artists certainly have a social function apart from the seclusion of their studios. Grizedale Arts has transformed this idea into the practice of useful art. Useful Art or Arte Útil, an association of artists moderated by artist Tania Bruguera, who follow this idea, has become a strong social movement. Grizedale Arts and the “Fair Land” have coined the movement of socially engaged art or better practices decisively. The approach might be similar to the curatorial concept of ruangrupa’s “lumbung” for documenta fifteen, the rice barn as a communally used building in which the harvest of a community is stored for further use – no wonder Grizedale Arts has decisively shaped positions of collectives like Assemble to Jeremy Deller and Laure Prouvost via John Ruskin and the Arts and Crafts Movement. The “Fair Land” is a small social utopia, for which a great social future awaits. The concept of “A Fair Land Pforzheim” was the first public space project of this kind which was successfully implemented together with Grizedale Arts. The further development of the concept “A Fair Land” benefits enormously from the social realities of Pforzheim and the multicultural experience of its inhabitants. True to Joseph Beuys we are all working on a great social sculpture for the benefit of all and this idea has to be reinvented again and again. “A Fair Land Pforzheim” was an outstanding example in 2020.

Please explain how the project led to results or learnings which could be transferred to other interested parties

“A Fair Land” is an ecologically, aesthetically and socially sustainable ecosystem that can be easily adapted and implemented in other public places. The central idea is to activate the everyday creativity of all participants. By means of simple, easily producible objects, a functional system is installed on site with a temporary economy in which all elements are significant with regard to the guiding question – Is it useful, desirable, achievable? In 2021, the idea of “A Fair Land” continues to grow for the anniversary “beuys 2021. one hundred years of joseph beuys” on Bonn’s public Museum Square between the Bundeskunsthalle and the Kunstmuseum. In a competition, architecture students from the Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences developed an adaptation inspired by “A Fair Land Pforzheim” and Beuys’ work. The winning design is based on the motif of the honeycomb. Various old pumpkin varieties will grow on eleven straw bale honeycombs from June to October 2021 under the guidance of the collective “A Fair Land Pforzheim”. The result is the Beuys platform “Cause = Future”, a huge wooden construction in the shape of a honeycomb made of recycled displays from past exhibitions. Consistent in the sense of sustainability, because one focus of the activities on the Museum Square is ecology (nature = plastic), alternative economy (creativity = capital) and the social (space = society): a social sculpture true to Joseph Beuys’ dictum that everyone is an artist.

Is an evaluation report or any relevant independent evaluation source available?

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed project has not been proposed for the Awards more than once under the same category and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.