
Ecosystem Künstlerdorf - Learning from Nature
Scientific monitoring of an institutional socio-ecological transformation process and the development of a sustainability strategy of the residency program of the Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen.
The Künstlerdorf Schöppingen is a residency program for artists from all over the world located in the Münsterland. It has proposed symbols (such as the ecosystem), activities (such as gardening), as well as ethical principles (of permaculture) for the year 2022 with its program "Ecosystem Künstlerdorf - Learning from Nature" to initiate a social-ecological transformation. The goal is to reflect and strengthen the sustainability and equity of the community in the artist village itself, as well as its embeddedness in the rural environment. This process is to be enriched by integrative thinking in science and art, as well as critically and constructively observed. The scientific monitoring focuses on the questions to what extent the aforementioned symbols, activities and principles can actually contribute to sustainable community building? And furthermore: Which ideas of human-nature-relationships can be found among the members of the artists' village, and thus: How they are addressed by the program with its permaculture principles? To investigate these questions, Cornelia Steinhäuser conducted an intensive field observation from a landscape ecological ethnographic perspective, using creative methods, various interactions in the studios, narrative walking through the surroundings, up to common gardening. As a result, an analysis of the visions, goals and strategies as well as obstacles and potentials of the initiated transformation process was elaborated. The enrichment through the exchange between art and science for the treatment of the current overall social and ecological challenges is to be deepened in follow-up projects.
Term: May-October 2022
Steinhäuser, Cornelia (2022). Begegnungen mit Mensch und Natur im Künstlerdorf Schöppingen: Socializing with people and nature at the Künstlerdorf. In Julia Haarman (Ed.), Ecosystem Künstlerdorf (pp. 21–41). Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen.