Perfect Strangers - Bekannte Unbekannte
Partners: Story and Studio CIC, The Auxiliary (Middlesbrough, England) and kitev - Kultur im Turm e.V. (Oberhausen, Germany)
Image © Story and Studio CIC, Pieces of Us
“As two community arts organisations we have chosen Folklore as an umbrella concept for structuring our engagement and planning. We believe Folklore will allow us to creatively explore the uniqueness and also the cultural similarities among the many communities that make up our local populations. By building working relations and understanding across our two organisations at this stage we are creating the scaffolding for further development of a more ambitious shared community arts project across Middlesbrough, UK and Oberhausen, Germany.” Story and Studio CIC, The Auxiliary and kitev - Kultur im Turm e.V.
About the partners
Story and Studio CIC
Story & Studio is a community focussed arts organisation based in Middlesbrough. It establishes safe and inclusive environments that facilitate meaningful communication and expression through workshops, creative events and collaborative projects. It provides platforms for local artists and creative practitioners to work with different communities and age groups and also works in partnership with other local arts organisations and initiatives. Story & Studio's approach to communities is asset based and positive, encouraging people to participate in ways of their own choosing; happy for process to take precedent over product. Story and Studio's mission is to provide opportunity for people to explore social and personal issues such as identity, mental health, environmental issues and homelessness. Originally founded by Chris Layfield of Open Door Art and Aisha Lama of Write Yourself Well, Story and Studio works as a team of local artists and creatives.
kitev - Kultur im Turm e.V.
Founded in 2006 by Atelier Stark (studio Stark) and Tank FX, kitev (Culture in the Tower) is a laboratory for artistic and culturally framed interventions. We are based in the water tower, an iconic structure from the age of steam at Oberhausen Railway Station. This provides a nucleus for a broad range of artistic activity and a contact point for project related residencies in the region. Working from a venue that reflects, reinvents and recycles part of Oberhausen’s rich industrial past, kitev is particularly focussed on working with and engaging local communities who make up the rich and broad cultural tapestry of the city today. In pursuing this aim, we provide a platform for innovative, experimental and interdisciplinary artists to work and develop, and encourage dialogue between different artistic practices. By co-creating projects with residents, our aim is to encourage and enable inclusive participation in the renewal of the city. www.kitev.de
