Patrons: Matthea Ast-Lehmann, Barbara Buhrke, Anni Geissler, Kristina Geissler, Jeannette Gruner, Sarah Ihlefeld (until 02(2024), Stefan Kamenz, Tom Klaar, Claudia Laue, Helene Radam, Steffen Schulze, Dieter Siegesmund, and Tobias Urban
Mediators: Lea Schleiffenbaum, Lena Ziese (bis 2021)
Artist: Simon Denny
Duration: 2019 ongoing
Partner: Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation)
Not much going on in small towns? Certainly not in Beeskow. A lot happens in the district town by the river Spree: people get involved in associations, initiatives and honorary posts and put together a wide variety of activities and cultural offerings.
What is needed, however, in the eyes of Beeskow's New Patrons, is a new visibility of all that the people here are moving for themselves and their neighbours - an activity radar for Beeskow.
The group would like to see an artistic project that brings the great variety of activities to light for everyone, that awakens the desire to participate in what is on offer and to share with the whole town what is being done for the community here.
An overview of current activities and events will be presented in an innovative artistic format at central locations in the city. Visibility in the cityscape and in the digital world are equally important.
Thus it becomes obvious that something is happening and, above all, how much is happening. And it enables those who notice this diversity to approach others, to participate, to be involved and to engage themselves.
With Simon Denny (*1982, Auckland, New Zealand), the people of Beeskow were able to win over an internationally experienced artist for their project, who has been working for many years on the question of how technological developments influence our everyday and community life.
Topics such as personal identity and integrity are addressed as well as social debates about data protection and the use of human experience as a raw material. Together with the patrons in Beeskow, Simon Denny is working on a sculptural series that makes information accessible and visible in the public space and at the same time promotes the community of citizens in this very space and beyond.
