news

The traveling exhibition “Kein schöner ____ in dieser Zeit”, which we already helped to organize in 2019, is to be relaunched in Thuringia this summer! Unfortunately, it is not yet clear whether the project will be funded, but the project team is looking for artistic works and has launched an open call. This time, the focus is on perspectives of East German people, Black and People of Color and possible alliances, but also media-critical and reflective concepts and performative works that involve the exhibition space and the people on site are sought. Check out the project website if you are interested and subscribe to the project’s Instagram channel and Facebook page. (in German only, sorry)

Starting on Friday, we will be able to exhibit our project on Leipzig’s Eisenbahnstraße again, which has been on our minds since 2019 and is now called »A Marked Place.« While the f/stop photography festival is taking place on the grounds of the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, we as f/stop SATELLIT will be just around the corner in the Salon of Villa Plagwitz at Karl-Heine-Straße 108.

You can see our exhibition at the following times:
Friday 25.6. 4-7 p.m.
Saturday 26.6. & Sunday 27.6. 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Monday 28.6. till Friday 2.7. 4-7 p.m.
Saturday 3.7 & Sunday 4.7. 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
With the current Covid 19 incidence, there is no longer a testing requirement, but we will collect your contact information on site and masks are required in the exhibition space.

We would also like to invite you to an event on Saturday July 3 at 6pm: We will give a guided tour of the exhibition and then read from the interviews in the two newspaper issues.  Afterwards, we want to have a conversation with you over wine and soda.

Right on July 10, we will then show the project as a clothesline exhibition in Hildegardstraße in Leipzig East at the rally with street party of »Hilde Resists« – the networking against deportations in Leipzig East, which was started after the blockade of a deportation on July 9, 2019. We will also have the newspapers in five languages with us and a small zine workshop is also planned!

On July 17 and 18 we will be back with a book and newspaper table at the Radical Bookfair Leipzig. You will find all further information later on the blog of this self-organized small book fair.

With the exhibition we would like to be present in other parts of Leipzig and beyond. If you have an exhibition location or another possibility where people are interested, please contact us.

We are exhibiting our project “Dangerous Object: Eisenbahnstraße”. We have built a collage on a large format photography with the different photographic image series you already know from our newspapers. In addition, we show the portraits of the residents we interviewed. And we invite you to participate – feel free to send us your questions and wishes about Eisenbahnstraße via mail, Instagram or Facebook, they will become part of the exhibition.

Now it turns out that you can even see the exhibition on site – with appointment, test and mask. We are in the rooms of the art and education association SagArt e.V. on Eisenbahnstraße 37 to find. You can find the exact info and booking on the dedicated exhibition page on our website.

In addition, we have planned an extensive online program:

20/5 18.00 – 19.30 Vernissage with reading from “Dangerous Object: Eisenbahnstraße”.
For the vernissage on May 20 at 6 pm, we will first talk with Michael Touma, curator of many exhibitions at the Sagart, and then read from some interviews.

21/5 18.00 – 19.30 Reading of the authors’ collective Postmigrant Disturbance – only in German
On May 21, starting at 6pm, we have invited Postmigrant Disorder for a reading – a writing, reading, performing, exciting, soothing, compassionate, disruptive collective of writers. PMS’s texts address everyday racial experiences, observations from minority perspectives as much as essayistic engagements with a majority society. PMS has been writing and reading together since 2018.

22/5 11.00 – 13.00 Lecture by Ayşe Güleç on artistic-activist strategies against racism
How can artistic methods and forms of expression contribute to raising and maintaining public awareness of the knowledge of victims of racist violence? On May 22, the pedagogue, author and research activist Ayşe Güleç will talk about this in a lecture, based, among other things, on her collaboration in the Tribunal: Unraveling the NSU Complex, in the April 6 Initiative, as well as her curatorial work for documenta, for example.

22/5 15.00 – 18.00 Workshop for exchange and planning of joint actions
In the afternoon, starting at 3 p.m., we want to exchange our own experiences and thematic focuses and ideas for our own artistic-activist actions in a workshop.
In the second part of the workshop we will form small groups, each with one idea, and discuss them concretely, with the goal of working on them later as a group.
Attention: For this workshop a prior registration is necessary until May 20th at 23:59 via the registration form on our website!

23/5 16:00 – 19:00 Panel Discussion – Breaking Stigmas around the (Residents of the) Leipzig Weapons Ban Zone
To wrap up the program, we’ll be talking with local initiatives in a panel on May 23rd starting at 4pm about what it takes to combat racism and break down the stigma around Eisenbahnstraße.
We are looking forward to hearing the perspectives of Migrantifa Leipzig, Romano Sumnal, Copwatch LE and diversif.

We’d love for you to participate and spread the word! All events will take place online via BigBlueButton or jit.si, you can easily join us via all current browsers. The link will be published shortly before on the exhibition page and in the Facebook events.

If you need interpretation in order to participate, register as soon as possible and we will try to arrange it for you.

The two newspapers about the project in German and translations in Russian, Arabic, Turkish and English can be ordered via our webshop

Ausstellung »Gefährlicher Gegenstand: Eisenbahnstraße«
выставка: »Опасный объект: Eisenbahnstraße«
Exhibition »Dangerous object: Eisenbahnstraße«
معرض »شارع الأيزن بان: ذلك المكان الخطير«
Sergi »Tehlikeli madde: Eisenbahnstraße«

15.2. – 28.2. 2021
Eisenbahnstraße 97, Leipzig

Eisenbahnstraße in Leipzig? The media have been full of racist and classist clichés about it for years. And as if to officially confirm this stigmatization, Saxony’s first weapons ban zone was introduced here in November 2018.
We thought: this sucks! And we interviewed residents from the adjacent neighborhoods. We published these interviews together with other texts and many of our own photos in two issues of our newspaper “Dangerous Object: Eisenbahnstraße” – to show: Eisenbahnstraße is much more! And the problems that exist here are more complex than BILD or ProSieben want to tell us.
Dedicated translators have been working on it for a long time, so that you can now read it not only in German, but also in Russian, Arabic, Turkish and English! From today until March 1 you can pick up your copy from the silent sellers at the Skateplatz in Rabet and leave a price of your choice. Or you can order it online via our webshop.

We want to commemorate the victims of the racist terrorist attack in Hanau almost exactly one year ago. Their names are:

Ferhat Unvar
Hamza Kurtović
Said Nesar Hashemi
Vili Viorel Păun
Mercedes Kierpacz
Kaloyan Velkov
Fatih Saraçoğlu
Sedat Gürbüz
Gökhan Gültekin

We join the demands of the friends and relatives of the victims: Remembrance, justice, investigation and consequences! Tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 14 at 2 p.m., there will be a livestream of the February 19 Initiative from Hanau, which will also be carried into the public space again at many rallies on Feb. 19. Please also sign their petition for a fund for victims of right-wing terrorist violence also in Hesse.

Commemoration also takes place online on 17.2. at 17 clock in an event of the new German organizations (with registration!), in a reading of the new publisher for BIPoC stolzeaugen.books on Instagram on 19.2. at 17.30 and from 17.2. from 18-20 in the festival We are here. (all in German)

Rafael moved to Suhl last summer and was immediately asked by the International Bund to create an exhibition.

He spoke with migrants and people of color about their experiences with racism and similar forms of discrimination in Suhl. The focus was on what this does to their feelings about life here and in what form they would like to see solidarity. We also talked about their wishes for their lives and for living together in the local community. All the interview transcripts could be read in brochures at the exhibition in Suhl’s main church.
Large portraits of the interviewees are also shown on posters. They were mostly created shortly after the intensive, long conversations and are meant to make the moment of the encounter a bit more comprehensible and to create a direct access.
Just now 4 more interviews and portraits were added, because especially the perspective of racialized people who grew up in Suhl was missing, as well as experiences from the camp on the Suhl Friedberg, the Thuringian initial reception facility. If you are also affected by racism, live or have lived in Suhl and want to be part of the project, feel free to get in touch.
Most of the texts and pictures can now be read (in German) and seen on the project website. For the future it is planned to do educational work with the project in schools.

The contact restrictions because of Corona affect everyone very differently. We ourselves are pretty privileged, even if we’d like to get together physically for workshops. Meanwhile, people are suffering because of the unequal distribution of care work – @femm_hood just started a strike over this. Many are losing income or have rising costs. People are stuck in violent relationships. Disabled people who are cared for at home are overlooked (see @raulkrauthausen). Jews* face structural anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. Asian-read people say: #iamnotavirus. In camps in Germany, refugees have to live close together under sometimes chaotic mass quarantine measures. Meanwhile, in the middle of the pandemic, mass deportations are underway (see @afgkulturhaus and @syrianotsafe !). And thousands of refugees are stuck in cold tents on the Greek islands (see @now_you_see_me_moria) or in Bosnia (see @balkanbruecke). What is being done for them? How many other particularly affected groups do we not have in mind?

And while, according to estimates, particularly contagious covid mutations could already account for a double-digit percentage of all new infections in Hanover, there are already discussions today about relaxations. The strategy of zero covid, also to shut down the economy more strongly for a short time, to cushion the consequences of the lockdown in solidarity and thus to be finished with the lockdown faster, is apparently not considered so far.

That’s the current situation from our point of view. Now to the pictures. A reflection of the first lockdown in March attempted the exhibition “My encounter with isolation” at @blauer_sand_leipzig. Bea Nielsen had searched for artistic works via an open call, especially in the east of Leipzig. A great combination of personal conversations, paintings, sculptures, photos and texts came together. We are present with pictures from “Dangerous Object: Eisenbahnstraße”.

You can see the whole exhibition online since a short time!

Feb. 5 marks the anniversary of the “dam breaking”, the election of a minister president with votes from the AfD in the Thuringian state parliament.

For this, he got flowers in front of his feet. And a broad civil society alliance was then very quickly together on the streets to make it clear that this line must not be crossed.

On Sep. 26 of this year, there are finally to be new elections. Until then, many civil society organizations, initiatives and individuals are promoting a Thuringia of solidarity instead of misanthropy with actions and, above all, opportunities for exchange. It is an honor for us to be involved within the scope of our possibilities.

Tomorrow, there will be a retrospective and outlook with some of the other participants in a livestream starting at 1 pm. Check it out and tell others under the hashtag #mehrBlumen !

This green rectangle represents the green card that was not drawn. With this green card, a few white celebrities, who were strangely invited as racism experts, could have briefly and succinctly expressed their support for no longer using a racist foreign term for Sinti*zze and Rom*nja in a stupid vote. Instead, they voted unitedly in red against it. After being upset for 20 minutes that everything would be put on the gold scale. After they said one racist word after another, wanted to keep it in books and streets, with one harebrained defense argument after another.
After the Central Council of Sinti and Roma was laughed at, called “2,3 people who have nothing to do” and its statement as “nonsense”.
Introduced by a clip that already anticipated most of the racist arguments and the result of this vote.

This is what happened in a program of WDR which sees itself as “the final authority” (#dieletzteInstanz).

This has all been broadcast twice and only then came to public attention thanks to the criticism of many PoC like Malcolm Ụzọma Ohanwe, Aminata Touré, Duzen Tekkal, Gianni Jovanovic and many others.

After the rebroadcast of this show on Jan 29th, two days after the day of remembrance for the victims of Porajmos.

In response, Sinti & Roma Pride convened “the very last authority” (#dieallerletzteInstanz). People who are affected listened to that part of the show and deconstruct piece by piece the racist Happyland. Listen to it if you (like us) still need education on antiziganism, racism, entitlement, silencing, etc.

We also found the reaction of Enissa Amani very strong, who rented a hall for the one and a half hour talk show “Die beste Instanz” and invited five guests who are directly affected by racism and who excellently know the topic.

At the end of 2015, PEGIDA and its offshoots attempted to exert political pressure from the streets by combining racist, islamophobic incitement against refugees with self-representation as concerned citizens abandoned by politics.

At that time we decided to use our resources to take action against this and organized workshops in which people from different backgrounds were empowered to tell their own story with photography&film.

In this way we wanted to burst “filter bubbles” and turn people from objects of reporting into authors, enable changes of perspective and amplify marginalized voices.

At the end of 2020, we see a new strong “Third Position” of anti-Semitic conspiracy ideologues, New Rightists with coup ideas, and once again a frighteningly large number of people from the so-called center of society.

A judge who co-authored articles like “Corona no worse than flu” allows all this. Right-wing hooligans clear the way. A police chief does not see police means as appropriate. And the same evening the water cannons are in action in Connewitz.

We are angry. What can we do now, as a collective for telling private and political stories with photography and film? Write your ideas in the comments or by mail. We would like to get connected with you!

The media interest in our project is already quite high, we are happy about that!

(Unfortunately all reports are in German.)

On the very first day of the campaign Frieder was interviewed by Radio Corax.

Sibel Schick later invited us to talk to her for the kreuzer – thanks for the interest and the conversation! You can read the interview, which is also about our motivations on their website.

On Radio Blau we talked about the project for more than 20 minutes.

We also had a short interview at Radio Mephisto, but it is not archived.

And also the Leipzig (Internet) Paper reported extensively about our project and our criticism of the official evaluation of the weapons ban zone.

Meanwhile, on Instagram, Felix Koltermann gave us a platform with a takeover: “I am very happy that the guys from Unofficial Pictures take over my Instagram account Newsprint Photobook this week in order to show their latest Newsprint Photobook and promote their current crowdfunding.”

Photo: our reading at the Pöge-Haus for the crowdfunding launch.

Our newspaper »Dangerous object: Eisenbahnstraße« is a documentary but side taking research on the conditions in the neighbourhood around Eisenbahnstraße in the east of Leipzig. The first so called “weapon free zone” of the federal state Saxony has been established here in 2018. We had long conversations with local residents, we took black & white pictures of special locations in the quarter with our large format camera and pixelated all people on our bodycam shots – except for the police. After all, everyone is suspicious in such a zone … We published the 48-pages newspaper in August 2019.

Now we want to create a second issue. We think that there are perspectives from the neighbourhood that are missing in the discourse and should be published. In addition, we want to focus on the connections between so-called “dangerous places” and ousting and examine these more closely on site.

To finance the second edition we need your help! This Thursday, January 23rd we will start our crowdfunding which will continue until February 23rd.

The crowdfunding will be accompanied by three events to which we cordially invite you:
+ Reading and World Café to start the campaign: Thursday 23 January 6pm at Pöge-Haus, Hedwigstr. 20, Leipzig. We will read from the newspaper with drinks and pastries, and afterwards we will talk in small groups.
+ Reading and talk on Friday 14.2 from 20.00 in adi, Georg-Schwarz-Str. 19, Leipzig-Lindenau
+ Reading and talk on Wednesday 19.2. from 19.00 at el libro, Bornaische Straße 3d, Leipzig-Connewitz

In case you want to have a look at the first issue of our newspaper “Gefährlicher Gegenstand: Eisenbahnstraße” before you decide to order the second issue, you can browse through it with us here: https://vimeo.com/390531166

Some committed Leipzig art house cinemas also support the project by showing a shortened project film as a trailer before their screenings. Many thanks to Luru Kino in der Spinnerei, Ost-Passage Theater, Cineding Leipzig and Cinémathèque Leipzig e.V.!

At https://dangerous.unofficial.pictures you will always find the latest information about the newspaper and crowdfunding. We would be very happy if you could support us! You can choose from lots of rewards: newspapers, hand prints and workshops.

In October, in cooperation with “adi” the 2nd part of our exchange program “laboro ergo sum” took place in Terni, Italy. We spent 10 days with our partner organisation “Blob.lgc”, got to know local initiatives like the small farmers’ movement “Genuino Clandestino” and thought about the topic “work”. In the end a small exhibition was created in several small groups, with photos, interviews and films. This exhibition will hopefully also be shown in Leipzig in the future.

Together with Bea Nielsen, Isaak Broder, Julia Peters, Sophie Stephan and Paul Altmann we started after a long time of preparation on August 18th our touring exhibition “Kein schöner ____ in dieser Zeit” to Döbeln, Weißwasser, Annaberg-Buchholz and Hoyerswerda. Our idea was to exhibit in public spaces and thus, around the state elections in Saxony, to get into conversation with people we otherwise would not reach with our various activities in Leipzig. And the concept worked out perfectly! In every city we had exciting conversations and insights into biographies and life realities. Frieder has the encounter with Thomas in Weißwasser especially present. On three different days – often for several hours – he came to us again and again and sought the exchange. He was concerned about the dramatic gains of the right-wing extremist AfD and said that without the exhibition he would not have so much contact with people like “us”. We talked about the structural change in Lusatia, everyday racism in Leipzig and about the question of how we as a society want to and can live together.

None of this would have happened without the great support of our cooperation partners SKZ Telux in Weißwasser, Lichtfabrik e.V. and Salon West in Annaberg, Kulturfabrik e.V. in Hoyerswerda. With riesa efau from Dresden we were able to develop the educational programmes for the individual stations of the touring exhibition – thank you for your feedback and support during the planning phase! The Treibhaus Döbeln e.V. relieved us of a lot of work as the main organisation of the touring exhibition and was elementary for us as a project partner – thank you!

In July, we gave a seminar for the second time to young people who are going to Tanzania and India for a year with a Leipzig-based organization. We analyzed colonial images with them and discussed how the exercise of power, stereotypes and racism are also visible in today’s representations, how they notice when they reproduce stereotypes in their own photographs and what strategies they can develop to take pictures “differently”. For us this exchange is always very interesting and we would like to offer similar seminars with other organizations and contexts. If you have any ideas, please feel free to contact us.

How do we want to live together in this society? Lead by this question, we are going on tour through four small towns in Saxony between August and September, together with a group of five more artists from Leipzig. An art exhibition in public space is built to facilitate exchange with the inhabitants about this urgent question, in view of the regional election on 1 September.

An important matter, as the cultural foundation of Saxony is confirming with its support. Still there is quite a part of the financial distance in front of us.

Further information can be found on https://www.indieserzeit.de/

We would of course also be happy to meet you on our tour. If you can, consider also joining the #wannwennnichtjetzt tour and the big #unteilbar demonstration in Dresden on 24 August!

As our contribution to the exhibition tour »Kein schöner ____ in dieser Zeit«, the two of us are taking a look at the quarters around Eisenbahnstraße in Leipzig, which at least since reportages on ProSieben and in BILD has become notorious for being the “most dangerous street of Germany” – interwoven with stereotypes and preconceptions which have been a ground for the introduction of a so-called weapon-prohibition-zone last November. We had long talks with inhabitants of the area on how it is for them to live here. We were also wandering around with the large format camera to document disputed and ordinary places, and we took pictures of life on the street with a body cam.

Now we want to create a 40-page newspaper about it, that confronts visitors of the exhibition with the area and the perspective of its inhabitants. It will also be about listening first and questioning one’s own preconceptions. Maybe apart from all the “strange” there is also a common?

Let’s talk about work!

In April, 14 guests from our partner organization “Blob.lgc” from Terni, Italy came to the big exchange project “laboro ergo sum”, which we organized together with adi (autodidaktische Initiative e.V.). In 13 days we made photos, interviews and films about labor. In the end, everyone was so exhausted that we had to postpone the exhibition. Before that, a return exchange will take place at the beginning of October. If you are interested, take a look at the page https://laboroergosum.eu .

On Friday March 22 starting at 4pm, Fahd Aldaya will read from his photo-text book “The Jasmine Flight”, which he created in 2017 at our “out of the box” workshop. Come by the “Black Box – Where do I come from. Where am I going.”, in the middle of the main train station!!!

More info is available on the project page of Lauter Leise e.V. .

Photo: Tina Pruschmann

In 2019 we want to offer again a space to create a more or less finished project out of the chaos of your pictures already taken – film or photographs – this space we call »out of the box«. This year we will cooperate with the awesome neighbourhood project Dresdner Straße 59 in Leipzig-Reudnitz. We also have a new schedule: there are only three whole-day appointments on which the whole group meets (23/2, 9/3, 23/3) and afternoon appointments in between (25/2, 6/3, 11/3, 20/3) where you can get feedback or help with your projects if you need it. Supposedly in autumn, there will be a second workshop with Dresdner59 and towards the end of the year we want to publish the results! The project is funded by SAB and EVLKS so you can participate on donation base. Open for everybody of every age/origin/… ! Participation on donation base. If needed, we will organise interpreters or child care.

Register until 14/02/19 at www.unofficial.pictures or via +49 341 39294153

Photography is painting with light? As diverse as is our group and our questions to the world, as numerous are our perspectives through and onto the camera.
Our collectively developed exhibition takes photography as a field of research – vivid, democratic and open as the society in which we want to live in.

From attributions of motherhood, making photography accessible to the blind, places of arrival for refugees, the exploration of the photographic self in a city like Cairo, to existential questions of violence, love and transience. All these seven positions address the question by whom and for whom through the popular world language of photography.

From Ana, Bea, Frieder, Igor, Paula, Raffaele and Thora you can expect classical displays, installations of text and image and elaborate photography books – and of course there will also be images painted with light.

Location: Pöge-Haus, Hedwigstraße 20, 04315 Leipzig

Vernissage: 5.1. 19.00.
Music: »Schall und Lauch« & DJ*ane

Artist talk:
6.1. 16.00 & 13.1. 16.00

Finissage: 13.1. 15.00. coffee & cake

OPEN: 6.1.2019 12.00 – 20.00
9.1. – 11.1. 16.00 – 20.00
12. – 13.1. 12.00 – 20.00

https://unofficial.pictures/von-ihnen-von-uns-von-wem/

Our 2018 series of workshop seminars is entering the final round with »how to publish« and we are excited for your moving and still images! On three weekends between October and December we want to look for a publication format that fits your (almost) finished photo and film projects. At the end we will design a group exhibition together and realize it in January in Pöge-Haus (and maybe also in public space). You can again choose your participant’s contribution yourself, we got funding for simultaneous interpretation from the city and want to offer child care if necessary. So if you think: “oh yes! I want to, but …”, please write us and we’ll hopefully find a solution.

Enrol until 19 October at www.unofficial.pictures

Workshop: Fri 26 — Sun 28/10 | Fri 9 — Sun 11/11 | Fri 30/11 — Sun 2/12/2018
Vernissage: Sat 5/1/2019 | Exhibition: Sun 6 — Sun 13/1/2019
Place: Pöge-Haus e.V., Hedwigstraße 20, 04315 Leipzig-Neustadt-Neuschönefeld

This is City Plaza
Together / A story of appropriation

Athens.
A Hotel, 6 years of vacancy.
Looked out for and occupied.
126 rooms. 350 people.

Frieder’s photographs are describing a place, that is more than a home for its inhabitants. Together they struggle, dance, clean, live. Politics and daily life go hand in hand here.

We are very happy to be able to show the images during this year’s LindeNow – festival for non-commercial art spaces – and about the wonderful cooperation with Isaak Broder from BB Labor.

Opening hours:
05 October: 6 – 11 pm
06 October: 3 – 10 pm
07 October: 3 – 8 pm
12 October: 5 – 8 pm
13 October: 11 am – 3 pm
14 October: 3 – 7 pm

Vernissage: 05 October, 6 pm
Artist talk: 07 October, 7 pm
Finissage: 14 October, 6 pm

BB Labor, Demmeringstraße 21, Leipzig-Lindenau.

www.lindenow.org
www.bb-labor.de

We postponed our next big workshop seminar, »Personal cinematic/photographic researches« by two weeks. That means:
1. we are putting up posters again 🙂
2. you can still REGISTER UNTIL 25 JUNE!
As in our previous workshops, we want to create a space to share your personal/political ideas and topics and make little photo/film projects out of them.
Participation fee according to self-estimation.

In June, our workshop seminars »sharing.unofficial.pictures« will finally start! On three weekends in June and July you can join the »Personal cinematic-photographic researches« – simply come along with your topics/ideas and realize them with the help of our creative coaching.
On two weekends in end of July / beginning of August, you can participate in »out of the box« with your image/video collections – together we will transform them into personal/political projects. On three weekends between October and December, »how to publish« will be about finding a coherent format for publication, which we will test in a group exhibition afterwards. We are actually really excited about who will participate this time and about the topics that will be layed on the table! Currently we are working on getting funding for interpretation for all workshops and to get the publicity translated, but if you have friends who don’t speak German or English well, you can already tell them about it.

As you might have heard: We want to live from our work and therefore we ask for participant’s contributions. Though we don’t want to exclude anybody from participating, that’s why you can choose yourself how much you want to pay. The idea is that people who have more give more, allowing the participation to people with less income. On our website, we give you can idea of how much we think would be appropriate in respect to the income that you have freely available for yourself every month.

Overview of the dates:
– »Personal cinematic-photographic researches« 15 – 17/6 & 29/6 – 1/7 & 13 – 15/7 in Dresdner59, Leipzig-Reudnitz; as well as 31/8 – 2/9 & 28 – 30/9 & 12 – 14/10 in Treibhaus Döbeln
– »out of the box« 20–22/7 & 3–5/8 in KunzStoffe, Leipzig-Lindenau
– »how to publish« 26 – 28/10 & 9 – 11/11 & 30/11 – 2/12 in Pöge-Haus, Leipzig-Neustadt-Neuschönefeld

Further information and subscription at https://sharing.unofficial.pictures

For all of you who have more free time on the evenings of weekdays and who wish for a long-term support, we start the new format »Photo, Film & Pizza« also on the end of June. For half a year, you can come along approx. every third Wednesday or Thursday in our studio, bring your topics, ideas or existing images and work on your personal/political photo/film projects. We help you with the concept, the image/clip selection, questions about ethics and publication — and you can use our large format printer and negative scanner. Afterwards we can sit together with pizza & co. One semester consists of eight sessions in order to offer constant feedback for your work. Again, you can find further information and the subscription link at https://sharing.unofficial.pictures

27 / 28 June, 18 / 19 July, 15 / 16 August, 5 / 6 September, 3 / 4 October, 24 / 25 October, 14 / 15 November, 5 / 6 December (you choose between Wednesday group and Thursday group)

Together with friends from autodidaktische Initiative (adi) we are organising a big exchange project on the topic of »labour«. If everything goes well with the funding, a group from the (post-)industrial city Terni in Central Italy will come to Leipzig from 12 to 25 September and we will go there in spring, talking about Personal, Local, Political and Utopian around the subject and, after all, creating little photo and film projects in small groups or individually. The results of the first round we want to exhibit in October during LindeNOW, the festival of self-organized non-commercial art spaces in Leipzig-Lindenau.
As for all of our workshops, neither equipment nor previous knowledge are required, and if necessary we will organize a short English course before. The participant’s contribution (incl. food) is 25-75 € according to self-estimation. For more infomation check out the project website at www.laboroergosum.eu, write an email to the preparation team at leipzig@laboroergosum.eu or come to the preparation workshop on 7 July in the adi! Deadline for registration will be on 15 July.

As we have announced for a long time, we completely relaunched our website and will fill it with more content during the next months, namely adding a shop, our offers for organisations, companies and groups and after all the projects that we want to share with you. And yes, we will also translate it to English. If you have any feedback on the site or if something doesn’t work on your device, we’ll be happy to get an email! Thanks!

Together with the autodidactic initiative from Leipzig and Centro di Palmetta from Terni, Italy we invite you for a big exchange! In September we want to meet for 13 days and use PHOTOGRAPHY &FILM to reflect about WORK – the political dimension as well as personal experiences. Through a constant exchange you can create group projects or individual projects. We will also do little tours and interview people about their work experience. At the end we want to create a poster campaign and a website with our works.
Interested? We want to hold three info events to talk about our ideas and your needs:

4th April 18:30 Social Impact Lab, Weißenfelser Straße 65H (Plagwitz)
5th April 18:30 dresdner59, Dresdner Str. 59 (Reudnitz)
5th April 18:30 Haus Steinstraße, Steinstraße 18 (Südvorstadt)

The information events will be in German (translation to English possible), the exchange will be in English with the possibility to organize language courses before or interpretation during the exchange.

For more information contact leipzig@laboroergosum.eu

Sorry, this entry is only available in German.

Fahd Aldayas Ausstellung “Die Jasmin-Flucht”, die wir mit ihm kuratiert und produziert haben, hatte heute nochmal sehr kurzfristig Vernissage im OFT Völle, Stuttgarter Allee 9, Grünau und ist nun noch bis 29. März dort zu den Öffnungszeiten (Mo-Do 14-20 Uhr, Fr 13-20 Uhr) zu sehen 🙂 Ihr könnt dort auch in Fahds gleichnamiges Buch reinschauen, das letzten April unserem Workshop “out of the box” entstanden ist. In den Fotos zeigt er persönliche Perspektiven auf Syrien vor und während des Krieges, Flucht und Ankommen in Deutschland. Sehr sehenswert!

Sorry, this entry is only available in German.

Sa 17.02. – So 18.02., Sa 23.02. – So 24.02., adi, Georg-Schwarz-Straße 19

An den beiden Wochenenden wollen wir uns mit max. 6 von euch austauschen zum Thema Arbeit und mit euch zusammen ein Zine herstellen und veröffentlichen! Wir haben Lust uns allen ein bisschen Theorie zuzuführen aber vor allem auch über eigene Erfahrungen, Utopien, Fragen zu reden und das alles dann auf Papier zu bannen. Es kann dabei zum Beispiel um Lohnarbeit gehen, um kollektive Care-Arbeit, Arbeiten für die Revolution oder warum wir Urlaub von der Selbstausbeutung brauchen. Kramt sie heraus eure Tagebucheinträge, Handy-Fotos, Interviews, Zeichnungen, Dachbodenfunde oder was euch sonst
einfällt. Und schaut mal in Zeitschriften, auf der Straße oder im Altpapier nach Materialien die dazu passen könnten. Zusammen machen wir mit Schere und Kleber, Schreibmaschine und Stiften ein Heft, in dem alle ein paar Seiten Platz haben, um ohne ästhetischen Perfektionsanspruch rauszuhauen was in uns ist.

Grobes Programm

• Sa. 17.2.: Kennenlernen, Austausch über eigene Erfahrungen
• So. 18.2.: Input über Zines, Material anschauen, wir greifen zur Schere
• dann 5 Tage Alltag und da vielleicht auch Zeit zum eigenverantwortlichen weiter überlegen und reflektieren, nochmal Material sammeln, collagieren …
• Sa. 23.2. Zwischenstand, weiter basteln
• So. 24.2. letztes Schnippeln, Ergebnisse anschauen, Titel, Reihenfolge, Impressum und Verteilung besprechen

Arbeit jeweils 12-18 Uhr, dazwischen 2 Std. gemeinsame Mittagspause, Zeit für Feedback
nach 18 Uhr Zeit zum weiter zusammen reden, Input anhören und basteln

Was solltest du mitbringen?

Du solltest vor allem Bock haben deine eigenen Themen in Bezug zum
riesen weiten Feld “Arbeit” mit anderen zu teilen und gemeinsam in einem
Zine ausdrücken zu wollen. Optimal wäre wenn du schon Material
mitbringst welches für dich mit dem Thema zusammenhängt. Ob das selbst
geschriebene Gedichte, Werbeprospekte oder deine Lieblingsfotos sind ist
egal – solange das Material dir etwas bedeutet und du damit arbeiten
möchtest. Technisches Wissen oder Können sind komplett zweitrangig.
Wir wollen zusammen unser Material auf persönlicher Ebene hinterfragen
und manchmal kommen dabei sehr persönliche Themen/Probleme/Erfahrungen
auf den Tisch. Wir wollen uns zwar nach Kräften supporten und immer
wieder schauen wie es allen geht, aber letztlich trägst du während des
gesamten Seminars selbst die Verantwortung dafür was und wieviel du
teilen magst.

Anmeldung (möglichst bald!) und Fragen an office@unofficial.pictures

Sorry, this entry is only available in German.

Mittwoch, 21.02. 19:00

Tunesien ist in den letzten Jahren ein wichtiger Partner für die Migrationspolitik der EU-Mitgliedsstaaten geworden und soll als „Türsteher“ vor den Grenzen Europas funktionieren. Gleichzeitig hat sich die wirtschaftliche Situation des Landes immer mehr verschärft. Die europäische Abschottung gegen Migration führt dazu, dass auch junge Tunesier*innen wenig Möglichkeiten haben legal nach Europa zu reisen und die Überfahrt in kleinen Holz- oder Schlauchbooten über das Mittelmeer riskieren. Die Dokumentation Kannouta fragt junge Tunesier und ihre Angehörigen nach ihrer Lebensrealität und den Gründen für die lebensgefährliche Reise.

Der Film dauert circa eine halbe Stunde und ist im arabischen Original mit deutschen Untertiteln. Anschließend gibt es die Möglichkeit den Regisseur*innen des Films Fragen zu stellen. Dazu kommen noch 2 weitere Aktivist*innen, die Hintergrundinformationen zur Situation in Tunesien teilen. Im Anschluss gibt es die Möglichkeit mit allen zu diskutieren und sich auszutauschen.

Auf dem Podium:

• Zied Ben Taleb, Regie und Film »Kannouta«
• Margarete Twenhoeven, Regie und Film »Kannouta«
• Latifa Ouertani (Women in Exile)
• Riadh Ben Ammar, Aktivist (Afrique-Europe-Interact) und Regisseur/Schauspieler (»Eldorado Europa«)

Es ist eine Verdolmetschung Arabisch – Deutsch angefragt.

im Tipi im Westwerk, Karl-Heine-Straße 89 (Eingang beim Fotoautomaten), 1.OG.
gefördert durch die Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
Eintritt frei, Spenden sehr willkommen!

bringt gerne eure Leute mit!

In June we start our new workshop series sharing.unofficial.pictures. We want to connect people with different backgrounds to bring them closer to photography and film as your tool to explore, express and publish your personal subjects. In these four different workshops you can attain clearity for yourself and emotional release – depending on which personal topic you want to work on. Through that you also will be able to be recognized as a visual author in a social discourse.

In the workshop seminars »out of the box« and »personal cinematic/photographic explorations« you can use 2 and 3 weekends respectively to transform your ideas and images into little personal projects that first will be shown and reflected upon in the group. The workshop »how to publish« which conludes the year offers a space to find a format together which fits the publication of the projects.

If you are interested, you can already mark these dates in your calendars:
– »personal cinematic/photographic explorations«
15-17/6 & 29/6-1/7 & 13-15/7 in Dresdner59;
31/8-2/9 & 28-30/9 & 12-14/10 in Treibhaus Döbeln
– »out of the box«
20-22/7 & 3-5/8 in KunzStoffe
– »how to publish«
26-28/10 & 9-11/11 & 30/11-2/12 in Pöge-Haus