Geheimnisvoll

Date: 
2022 to 2024

GEHEIMNISVOLL – MYSTERIOUS 

Artists in search of hidden stories in the European Capitals of Culture 2022-24 

https://www.facebook.com/mysteriousproject 

On the initiative of the Cultural Officer for the Danube Region at the DZM Ulm, an international art project is being developed in 2022-24 in which artists and young people from five cities in the Danube Region – including four European Capitals of Culture – work together. The project "Mysterious" deliberately turns to new methods and formats such as co-creation. 

During this period, temporary meetings of artists take place in the current European Capitals of Culture of the Danube Region – in Novi Sad (RS), Veszprém (HU), Timişoara (RO) and Bad Ischl (AT). The fifth city in this network is Ulm, which provides a European stage for the results of the project in 2022 and 2024 with the International Danube Festival Ulm/Neu-Ulm. The first meeting of the artists was held in Novi Sad from 7-14 May 2022. 

During the project weeks, young artists from all art disciplines explore particularly attractive but little-known, forgotten or not easily accessible or invisible places in the city/region together with local young people and work on them together in an artistic performance. It is about special places with which hidden stories, legends or historical events are connected, or which contribute to a better understanding of the history, cultural heritage and present identity of the Danube region, such as the underground passages of the Petrovaradin fortress in Novi Sad. 

The project results of the first meeting in Novi Sad have been successfully presented at the International Danube Festival 2022 in Ulm/Neu-Ulm (6-9 July 2022). Visitors were invited to an exhibition highlighting the artistic interventions from the Novi Sad project week, but also to a dialogue with the artists and coordinators. During the Festival artists offered creative workshops on themes related to their “mysterious” art works and the Danube area. 

Project team: Izabela Mašić (Novi Sad-Vojvodina), Andrea Wolfer (Timișoara-Banat), Szonja Dohnál (Veszprém-Balaton), Jakob Kinz (Bad Ischl-Salzkammergut), Jonas Bolle (Stuttgart-Ulm) and the project leaders: Swantje Volkmann (Ulm) and Márton Méhes (Vienna). 

Participating artists (2022): Judit Hamerli (Veszprém), Dejan Krstić (Novi Sad) and Gabriel Amza (Timişoara). 

Project partners: Cultural Officer for the Danube Region at DZM Ulm, Baden-Württemberg Foundation, Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg, Danube Office (Donaubüro) Ulm/Neu-Ulm, Danube Cultural Cluster as well as the European Capitals of Culture Novi Sad 2022, Veszprém-Balaton 2023, Timişoara 2023 and Bad Ischl-Salzkammergut 2024.