Five cultural workers give their opinion on the art scene and the city’s commitment –
03/25/2021 10:46 am
Marieta Chirulescu
22.03.2021
© Karlheinz Daut
Marieta Chirulescu
22.03.2021
Photo: Karlheinz Daut
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Marieta Chirulescu (studied with Rolf-Gunter Dienst and moved to Berlin in 2009): Four years after completing her studies, the painter, who experimented with picture surfaces, stayed in Nuremberg before a scholarship sealed her decision to go to Berlin. Today she has gallery owners in Mexico City, Warsaw and Naples. “I would not have made it if I had stayed in Nuremberg,” says Chirulescu. “In Berlin it is easier to be seen and to make contacts. Collectors and those interested in art can also look around in the studios here.”
“There is no studio program in Nuremberg”
What is missing in Nuremberg above all is an infrastructure for artists and a studio program, as developed by the BBK Berlin in cooperation with the city’s Senate. This means that rooms that become vacant are constantly being converted into studios and rented to artists at low prices.
Chirulescu counters the argument often cited by the Mayor of Culture Julia Lehner that artists are also entrepreneurs who have to assert themselves in the market by stating that artists – unlike entrepreneurs – make an advance payment free of charge for every exhibition. “No architect would do preliminary work without a fee,” says the painter. The lack of fee regulation is a major drawback nationwide.
Chirulescu believes that Nuremberg should also take on more responsibility for the artists. “There are a lot of good people in the city, but they go unnoticed.”
Matthias Böhler & Christian Orendt
22.03.2021
© Thomas Tjiang
Matthias Böhler & Christian Orendt
22.03.2021
Photo: Thomas Tjiang
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Matthias Böhler & Christian Orendt (studied with Michael Munding and moved to Berlin in 2019): Böhler went to Vienna immediately after completing his studies, Orendt to Leipzig. In 2010 both returned to Nuremberg to teach at the art academy. Böhler & Orendt have been working together as a duo since 2008, and have received numerous awards for their often expansive installations in which they practice social criticism in a playful and sarcastic manner. They have long been exhibiting across Europe and also in the USA.
The move to Berlin had been planned for a long time and “no decision against Nuremberg”, as both emphasize. “We liked the city and felt recognized,” says Orendt. Thanks to the Bavarian and municipal studio funding, the “very cheap” studio rent in the southern part of the city and the teaching assignments, people could live and work well here. Another great advantage of their material-rich work was their proximity to the manufacturing companies: “Everything we needed was quickly available here. It’s more complicated in Berlin.”
“There is a lack of exchange opportunities in Nuremberg”
One of the main reasons for the change of location was the better contact and exchange opportunities that a metropolis like Berlin offers. “We missed that in Nuremberg,” says Böhler and does not mean that as a reproach. “We have always wondered about the Nuremberg bashing. Of course, it is true that as an artist you have to leave Nuremberg. But apart from Leipzig with its special conditions, this applies to every city with a population of half a million that can never offer the cultural and artistic environment like Berlin. “
Florian Aschka
24.03.2021
© Larissa Kopp & Florian Aschka
Florian Aschka
24.03.2021
Photo: Larissa Kopp & Florian Aschka
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Florian Aschka (studied with Peter Angermann and Heike Baranowsky) moved to Vienna with his art partner Larissa Koopp after completing the academy in 2012. He has never regretted leaving Nuremberg, says the queer performance and photo artist today about Nuremberg: “Both the city and the art scene were too cramped for me. I saw no more room to develop myself further and to get the necessary funding.”
At some point he couldn’t get rid of the feeling of “being through. To know everyone I should know and to have had all the conversations I could have”. Of course, not everything is “milk and honey” in Vienna either, but many simple and effective measures work. The increase in the culture budget, for example, or that funds were made available for the arts quickly and unbureaucratically during the Corona crisis.
“Nuremberg liked itself as the scorned”
“Above all, you have to say that, unlike Nuremberg, Vienna is extremely lucky with its City Councilor for Culture, Veronika Kaup-Hasler,” says Aschka. “I had the impression that Nuremberg was largely liked as the scorned in Bavaria and as a provincial size. Things that don’t suit me personally.”
Comment: Nuremberg is increasingly driving artists to flight
Christian Rösner
22.03.2021
© Stefan Gnad
Christian Rösner
22.03.2021
Photo: Stefan Gnad
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Christian Rösner (studied with Christoph Höpfner) stayed in Nuremberg after graduating from the academy in 1997. “Leaving was never an option for me,” says the sculptor, “I have family roots here. That is one of the reasons why Nuremberg was always great for me.”
However, he notes, “the city seems to have a big problem with the increasing appreciation of every backyard property.” This massively displaces studio space. “If no countermeasures are taken or a concept lands on the table, then there will soon be no more visual artist in the city.”
Rösner himself is acutely affected by the difficult studio situation; by autumn he has to vacate his studio Auf AEG, where he has enough space to create large sculptures. He is now primarily looking for a storage space and “would think it would be great to get into the congress hall. It should be used for art and culture”.
“Had 1000 people in the workshop”
Its previous 530 square meters have “been walked by a lot of people”. At “Offen Auf AEG” he had around 1000 people in his workshop every year, “which I found fascinating and beautiful. They all wanted to see it”.
Afterwards, school classes and students asked him, says Rösner: “I think it has a value for the city if studios also allow spectators, and I can only hope that politicians will also set priorities.”
Urban guardian
25.03.2021
© Ralf Rödel
Urban guardian
25.03.2021
Photo: Ralf Rödel
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Urban guardian (studied with Ottmar Hörl and moved to Frankfurt / Main in 2019): The sculptor, who also had his studio at AEG and very much appreciated the charm of the area, saw no more future for himself in Nuremberg after the imminent end of the temporary artistic use. He went back to his native Frankfurt, where he and three other artists converted a former industrial hall into a studio.
The custodian is the main tenant. In addition to the landlord’s participation, the “Frankfurt Program to Promote the Conversion of Vacant Rooms”, supported by EU funds, helped with the costs. The so-called “Radar” program is a “super aid” that has meanwhile opened up a number of rooms in the city for creative people. “You feel wanted and have a job that works over the long term.”
In addition, there are other studios funded by the city as well as large art and creative centers supported by associations such as “Atelierfrankfurt” with inexpensive work and exhibition rooms.
Such places were lacking in Nuremberg, Hüter missed the courage to set “blatant impulses” and dare to change the image. “The city should make itself more attractive for artists,” he says. “It worked on AEG. To let that die is an indictment.”
“Artists are the machine heart of the city”
The idea developed in the course of applying for the European Capital of Culture to make the congress hall usable for artists would be an important and correct way for him to “create a completely different perception of the art scene”.
Artists, according to Hüter, “are the machine heart of a city. They work for free and out of conviction. But if there is no place for them, they leave.”
Survey: Regina Urban / Christian Mückl
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