Art in The Park 2015 – Munich, Germany

Art in the Park 2015 – Munich Artists Exhibition and Art Workshop with Kunst in Sendling

  • Event: Art Exhibition and Art Workshops
  • Organised by: Dr. Emmy Horstkamp and Berit Opelt
  • Date: June 12 – 17, 2015
  • Participants: Selected artists were invited to do workshops for the German public and participate in an exhibition of their personal artwork.
  • Objective: To bring artists together to share an art form with the public and exhibit their artwork with the Munich, Germany.
  • Funding: The gallery space and supplies were paid for by the City of Munich, Germany. Artists volunteered their time for the workshops and Dr. Horstkamp and Berit Opelt volunteered their time organising the event for the artists/community.
  • Format: Workshops for the public and temporary exhibition space.

Summary of Event

Art in the Park 2015 was a joint project between Munich Artists and Kunst in Sendling.

The City of Munich requested organisers and participants for their city festival celebrating the Sendling area of Munich, Germany. In 2015, the event focused specifically on Sendling which is located in the southern part of the city but organisers were not required to be from Sendling.

Workshops

Munich Artists and Kunst in Sendling organised workshops by Munich based artists. Each day, Munich Artists and Kunst in Sendling organised artists to share the skills they use in their active art practices with the public. The list of artists and the workshops organised by both groups are listed below:

  • Friday 12 June 2015 – Luka Bunic – Screenprinting Workshop (Kunst in Sendling)
  • Saturday 13 June 2015 – Four Artists – One Acrylic Painting by Nico Jahn, Berit & Co. (Kunst in Sendling), Lino workshop by Rainer Schmitten & A Stencil Workshop by Brigitte Yoshiko Pruchnow (Munich Artists)
  • Sunday 14 June 2015 – Experimental Transfers by Berit Opelt (Kunst in Sendling) & Workshop with Ewald Ink Wildtraut and Emmy Horstkamp (Munich Artists)
  • Monday 15 June 2015 -Collage Workshop with Emmy Horstkamp (Munich Artists)
  • Tuesday 16 June 2015 -Automatic Drawing Workshop with Suzanna Treumann (Munich Artists) & Jewellery Workshop by Barbara von Taeuffenbach and Monika Vesely. (Kunst in Sendling)
  • Wed. 17 June 2015 – Stamping Workshop by Jenny Schminke (Munich Artists) & Jewellery Workshop by Barbara von Taeuffenbach and Monika Vesely. (Kunst in Sendling)

Munich Artists wanted adults to participate in the event and focused on inviting artists who could handle working with adults in an outdoor workshop environment. After years of attending events in Germany, Dr. Horstkamp knew that German’s would watch instead of participate in art workshops or events organised by public institutions and she wanted to break down this barrier for the event attendees.

Many of the workshops organised by Munich Artists focused on creating art pieces instead of just teaching a new skill and each artist was encouraged to share an example for the participants to follow.

  • For the stencil workshop, Dr. Horstkamp created stencils from Brigitte Pruchnow’s artwork which allowed participants to use the basic elements of Brigitte’s work in a stenciled art piece using acrylic paints. (Brigitte Pruchnow’s paintings are created with acrylic)
  • In the Stamping workshop, Jenny Schminke used 3d printed Stamps created from her original artwork which allowed participants to create art pieces that felt like street graffiti.

Exhibition

Artists who agreed to provide a workshop were invited to participate in an exhibition of their work inside the mobile art gallery provided to Munich Artists and Kunst in Sendling for the event.

Art Gallery at Art in the Park 2015
Art in the Park 2015 Gallery Space

Berit Opelt knew that the gallery space existed and made a special request to the city for the space so that the Munich based artists selected from both Munich Artists and Kunst in Sendling could exhibit in a proper gallery space. The mobile gallery provided basic security for all the art pieces and Munch Artists insured the artwork for the event to limit their liability for showing original art pieces in a park.

Each exhibiting artist displayed artwork associated with their workshops. Through the exhibition, the public could see how the artists used the tools and techniques in their art practice.

The exhibition space was open during the festival hours and was monitored by Kunst in Sendling Artists.

Publication of Event

Storey Tarris created and event poster for the Exhibition and shared information about the event on the Munichartists.com website and on the Munich Artists Facebook page.

The city of Munich provided an information board for attendees and sent out a booklet to all residents of the Sendling area of Munich, Germany.

Art in the Park Exhibition Video 2015 Created by Dr. Horstkamp
Example of Social Media post shared during event for Munich Artists in Munich, Germany. The event was shared on the website and with the 7k or so people who follow the Facebook page.
Art in the Park as part of outdoor program for Munich, Germany Festival
List of Events for Art in the Park 2015 organized by Munich Artists and Kunst in Sendling for the CIty of Munich
Art in the Park 2015 Poster
Art in the Park Poster 2015 created by Storey Tarris
Brochure for Event Art in the Park 2015

After this event, the founders of Munich Artists found it easier to create events outside of their Frauenstrasse 18 space. Munich Artists decided that they enjoyed having the artists actively participating and decided to include more artists for shorter periods of time.

The issue with Art in the Park 2015 was the lack of financial compensation. Organising a week long event without financial compensation for the organiser did not reflect the ideology of Munich Artists. Dr. Horstkamp was not willing to ask another artist to withstand a financial drain nor was Munich Artists able to pay an hourly rate for an artist or art historian to organise the event.

Lesson Learned:

The volunteer time of each workshop artist was appropriately compensated by the exhibition and this part of the equation worked perfectly. If funding could be secured for organising the event, Munich Artists would consider repeating Art in the Park for Artists in Munich, Germany.

Note: This was the first and only event where Munich Artists received city funding. Munich Artists submitted requests for further project funding but all other requests were denied by the city. We appreciated this opportunity and would have enjoyed a second.