© Joop van Reeken
The project team for "Freiheitssstrom" (from left): Petra Taubach (Town Twinning Officer City of Bocholt), Jule Wanders (Head of the Department of Culture and Education), Maarten Goosens (Advisor for Strategic External Relations of the Gemeente Doetinchem), Isabelle Bisseling (Director of the Doetinchem City Museum) and Verena Winter, curator of the "Freiheitsstrom" project.Artists wanted for cross-border art project
Regional art project in the border region to mark "80 years of peace & freedom" in 2025
Next year, there will be a major art project on both sides of the German-Dutch border under the motto "Freiheitsstrom - Vrijheidsstroom". Eight German and eight Dutch artists from the border region will be working together on the project. Interested parties can still apply until next Saturday.
The city of Bocholt and the Gemeente Doetinchem, together with the project partners Stadtmuseum Bocholt and Stadsmuseum Doetinchem, are the initiators of the art project "Freiheitsstrom - Vrijheidsstroom", which will take place in 2025. The art project will be realised in an outdoor space: The locations for the sculptures are on the interconnected waterways Bocholter Aa and the Oude Ijssel flowing through Doetinchem.
"Freiheitsstrom - Vrijheidsstroom" will be a close, mutually stimulating collaboration between local artistic networks in the Bocholt-Doetinchem border region, artists who have found a home here and artists who feel closely connected to this region.
80 years of peace and freedom
The art project is directly linked to the celebrations of "80 Years of Peace & Freedom" in 2025. The number 8 is also symbolic here: The end of World War 2 on 8 May 1945; the lying eight, the symbol of infinity; 8 artist duos who will create 8 sculptures.
The prerequisite for participation is that artists come together to form German-Dutch artist tandems (artist duos) in order to realise the project theme together in the form of sculptures. Therefore, the so-called "Matching Day" will take place on 7 September 2024, to which all interested artists are invited.
Register by 31 August
Artists who would like to take part in "Matching Day" and meet their partner can register digitally via kurator(at)grenz-blick(dot)eu with their email address, name and telephone number. The registration deadline is 31 August 2024 and the curator will also announce the venue with the registration confirmation.
The artist duos formed at the end of the event will sign up to the Freiheitsstrom contact list on "Matching Day" and will subsequently receive the application documents. From the project ideas submitted, 8 tandems - i.e. 16 artists working together in German-Dutch duos - will be selected by an independent jury. On 8 May 2025, "Freiheitsstrom - Vrijheidsstroom" will be opened. The sculptures can then be visited until 8 November 2025.
Well-known artist accompanies project
Verena Winter, who accompanied and curated the exhibitions "Artem@Artis" in 2019 and "Open Spaces 800" in 2021 in Bocholt, has once again been recruited as curator for this art project. For her, it is also important to repeatedly emphasise the great importance of art and culture in and for society. " I would like to cordially invite all artists who feel connected to the border region between Bocholt and Doetinchem to bring their creative ideas and works to the people. Join in and take your chance to form an artist tandem on 7 September 2024", says Verena Winter.
The project is financially supported by the European Union and the Interreg partners as part of the Germany-Netherlands Interreg programme.
© Joop van Reeken
The project team for "Freiheitssstrom" (from left): Petra Taubach (Town Twinning Officer City of Bocholt), Jule Wanders (Head of the Department of Culture and Education), Maarten Goosens (Advisor for Strategic External Relations of the Gemeente Doetinchem), Isabelle Bisseling (Director of the Doetinchem City Museum) and Verena Winter, curator of the "Freiheitsstrom" project.