July in Kassel and elsewhere
July: Rural School of Economics in Kassel and elsewhere
Our three spaces at Lumbung documenta in Kassel are in good use: the Drawing and Harvesting Room at Hafenstraße, the Rural Undercurrent Vending Machines at Hübner, and our mobile Plein-Air Kit. Drawing and trading are the two constants that weave together rural undercurrents and localrealities, and individual stories with collective histories.
We keep harvesting and redistributing across the various ecosistems we are connected with. Lumbung documenta has become another city that has docked in Kassel, and has more access and connection routes than any other place we have ever been to.
So in July we’ll keep making inter-local connections, we’ll dig where we stand and honour the strength and knowledge of the many who sustain collective economies.
ECOSISTEM KASSEL
Sunday 3 July from 14.30 to 18.00
Dorffest Niederkaufungen
Myvillages has been collaborating with Kommune Niederkaufungen since Summer 2021, and we are very happy to be part of this year’s Dorffest. We’re launching the Baumacker Wanderung booklet made by Nicola A Dubiel, and are hosting Plein-Air drawing in the village – the square near Kommune Niederkaufungen is our starting point. This slow village exploration is with Sven Mehlhorn, Wapke Feenstra and Indra Gleizde.
At 15.00 a one-hour tour to the recently established Baumacker (orchard field) starts with specialist and growers from the commune. The walk to the field takes 20 minutes - we stay and learn at the Baumacker and have local apple juice.
Johannes from Jojo.TV is around to capture rural undercurrents as they come into sight.
Second week of July
(all final dates to be announced on Insta)
Local partner Anouk Nolte who organises the campaign Violets.Against.Violence will be around for a meet and greet, and we refill the vending machines with new flowers.
Anna Adler artist from Höfen in Upper Frankonia – Kathrin’s home village where the family surplus furniture for our Drawing Room comes from – will be in Kassel again to draw with us and with you. As soon as we know what the weather will be like, we’ll post times and meeting points on our website and Instagram
The same week we also participate in LUMBUNG KIOS working group session with feral trader Kate Rich, who is a close neighbour and collaborator in many things we do, from TRADE SHOW to DIY cola, from Taking Back the Economy to The Interdependence.
Open Bin
Myvillages has been joing the Open Bin for more than a year now: the online space for everyone from Composting Knowledge to meet. Many of us are going to be in Kassel during the 100 days and online casuals slowly merge into on-site actualities. How we will compost together is a question in the making. Compost is prepared together for future action.
TRANS-LOCAL aka ELSEWHERE
The Rural School of Economics is trans-local. Drawing sessions take place in very different geographies and context, making use of the fact that drawing is a mobile, accessible, adaptable and political tool. Guests and collaborators who connect with Kassel in July include:
From Paris
Kathrin has been catching up with Katherine Gibson, and Doina Petrescu and Constantin Petcou from aaa to review 5 years of shared attempts of “redrawing the economy”, and to use drawing as a tool to illustrate the surplus value of commoning.
From Alfter
2 - 5 July
Kathrin is teaching a Master Course in Business Management at Alanus University, and Plein-Air and paying attention to the soil we stand on are in the centre of a four day seminar.
From Zburazh
1 - 4 July
The Summer Workshops in Zburazh start – and 10 artists come to the village to explore nature and meet local textile specialists who have been involved from the start of RSoE.
From Springhornhof
10 July at 15.00
A set of new Janus Wolf Candles arrive in from Kunstverein Springhornhof, where Antje and Wapke have been developing the candle with local residents. Meet and greet with the co-producers and villagers at Hübner Areal.
From Rotterdam
10 – 14 July
Stefanie Zoche and other friends arrive from NL – this is strictly speaking not public, but important, as it is to celebrate Wapke’s birthday.
From London
13 July
‘Drawing Yourself as an Economic Body’ is an afternoon-long workshop at Company Drinks, together with all regular keyholder groups, and as part of a current participatory budgeting exercise.
From Eindhoven
14 till 17
Colleague and curator Marjolein from Omonatopee in Eindhoven is staying at the house.
From Lumsden
20 – 21 July
We connect in Kassel with our collaborators from the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden, Aberdeenshire, and Lumbung will be our collective learning pot to prepare for a community-led meeting room in Lumsden.
From Istanbul
25 - 28 July
Curator and researcher Kevser Güler from Istanbul is in Kassel, re-visiting the concept of rural undercurrents in urban settings, which was first developed in Wapke’s Boerenzij project.
From Brest
26 – 29
Alina from Brest in Belarus comes to Lumbung Kassel for a few days, to re- and pre-connect.
PREPARING THE AUGUST MEYDAN
During 12-14 August we will be setting up camp at Kulturzentrum Schlachthof for the August Meydan of Lumbung documenta. We have been collaborating closely with Schlachthof in the past, and for the weekend we want to feature three aspects of the Rural School of Economics:
- Geological Drawing and Wapke’s animation of 260 000 000 years of Kassel’s ground in the making
- Redrawing the Economy, with economic portraits of our local partners who are all specialists in sustaining organisations and systems
- Pleain Air Drawing in Nordstadtpark – one of our favourite public spots in Kassel.
Keep following us on Instagram @myvillages_ and our website, or send us a brief note if you are around, and would like to meet up or co-organise something together.
