City │ Country │ Escape – On Leaving and Arriving

In cooperation with the KURVE Centre for Education and Encounter, the Museum Wustrow in Wendland is planning an exhibition and event series on the theme of escape from a contemporary and historical perspective. In various formats and in direct dialogue with locals and refugees, the project will collect stories about leaving and arriving, and present them together in an exhibition.

The project begins by inviting pupils, refugees, story-tellers and village chroniclers to embark on an expedition into their own world and the daily lives of others. How do two different people feel about the same place? What is foreign to us, what is familiar? And what does “home” mean to us nowadays? To answer these and other questions, the project participants will visit their favourite places, document their daily routines, collect memorabilia and observe everyday phenomena. KURVE Wustrow will accompany the participants and strengthen their communicative and intercultural skills. Meanwhile, the museum will function as a place of encounter where the collected items will be initially deposited and later condensed into an exhibition. Several workshops will teach the participants museum-related techniques, such as curating, exhibiting and applying methods of oral history. Various locations around the city will also be used to generate awareness of the project’s themes; display windows in vacant shops will be transformed into “time windows” containing souvenirs and quotes, inviting the public to the museum to learn more about them. A mobile pavilion and interventions in public space will engage passers-by on the street and invite them to participate.

Partners: KURVE Wustrow – Centre for Education and Encounter for Non-Violent Action, Gymnasium Lüchow and others