SuSy exchange - David Eckelmann in Berlin

The participant David Eckelmann, an artist and cultural worker based in Leipzig and Berlin, is interested to build and work in new arts institutions. He got support in his research and practice in arts institution in Berlin (Uferstudios) and Vienna (danceWeb). The duration of his research internship in the frame of SuSy was four month between July 2014 and February 2015.

Translation of Excerpts from his report:

« I spent the four month long program at Uferstudios Berlin and danceWEB/ImPulsTanz Vienna. The work in Berlin consisted of different phases from July 2014 to February 2015. In Viena I wokred through the complete festival period of mid July to end August 2014. The program alowed me to get insight into different artistic processes by different dance artists. I accompanied different working methods and creation processes and got involved in different activities of the LLB network, both artistically and in an administrative way. I familiarized with many activities of the network by being involved in the FeedbackLab and in divers Wild Card activities.

Being involved in the work at Uferstudios Berlin and therefore in contact with other local institutions, I got a good knowledge of the (sometimes precarious) funding structures and learned to see the cultural-political apparatus differently with the diversity of the "local" producing artists. The necessity of advanced networks and their use one grasps through this SuSy activity is enormous and shows the importance of Uferstudios in its unique synergetic structure for Berlin and beyond. Normally it takes ages to generate experience in such fields but the, sometimes personal, exchange with the LLB network partners accelerates this experience and knowledge producing process. 

The exchange with danceWEB/ImPulsTanz Vienna was a very important part of this SuSy exchange as well. The festival offers workshops, performances and support for emerging artists and this offered me the opportunity to get in contact with very divers and different artists. Through the contact with the danceWEBbers I gained insight in different international working processes and cultural policies one normally does not get that easily. The diversity of the different interest of the different festival parts started me thinking about artistic production processes and areas of interest.  Not to mention the exchange with the team of the festival who integrated me into the apparatus of the festival from the very first moment.

All in all the SuSy program provided me with the fabulous possibility to observe and participate in different debates with various artistic creation and production processes with different perspectives. I learned a lot from the experience and confrontations with different people which prooved enormously fruitful. Such activities allow young dance administrators to dig deeper into the structures of contemporary dance, which becomes more and more essential.“