Magazine

Something was moving - not just the wind!

07 September 2018

On September 2, 2018 we visited the award ceremony of the 9th edition of the international wind art festival "bewegter wind" which has been held every two years in Northern Hesse since 2004. This year’s festival motto was "Clouds" and 64 artists from 21 countries delighted the visitors to the exhibition sites around the Katzenstein in the community of Habichtswald, along theAlpine Path in the Dörnberg nature reserve, at the Helfensteinen and at the Hohen Dörnberg with their very different approaches to the theme. Among these artists were 6 members of sculpture network, who were invited by the curator Reta Reinl to exhibit their work.

Upon our arrival on the day of the award ceremony, we immediately noticed the festival’s full parking lot - apparently many interested people wanted to take advantage of the last day of the exhibition to stroll across the grounds and catch a last glimpse of the art that had been on display there since August 19th and attracted a total of around 12,000 visitors. On this Sunday, both the visitors and the art works were met by windy weather conditions - just like the name of the festival says "moving wind" - everything moved playfully in the refreshing gusts and it was an interesting interaction of wind, clouds, people and works of art!

Clouds over the exhibition. Photo: Reta Reinl

Before the award ceremony, we were accompanied by our artist member Nevena Popović across the extensive grounds, which are characterized by a diverse forest and mountain landscape. Even from a distance you could already see some works of art, which were distributed on the meager grassland typical of this area. The curator Reta Reinl has showed great sensitivity as she mastered the challenge of placing the works of art in the large park in such a way that they harmonize with the landscape or even contradict it. The installations, wind art objects, wind videos and performances directed the viewer's gaze, sometimes making one wonder or smile. The works helped visitors to perceive the landscape more consciously - at times interacting with it, forming a symbiosis with it, or changing the perspective on it.

Artworks with the theme "Clouds"

The broad spectrum of the exhibiting artists was striking: not only did they come from all around the world, but their interpretations of the theme "clouds " could not have been more different. These varied between metaphorical meaning, meteorological or even playful approaches all the way to critical confrontations with global environmental politics.
Following a call on the sculpture network Opportunities page, several artist members applied and six of them were invited to exhibit their works:
Nevena Popovićs Installation "Clouds - Scattered Thoughts" consists of waterproof materials and reminds you of cloud formations piling up, with the spaces in between also become part of the installation. A short poem describes the idea this work of art is based on:

A bunch of scattered thoughts.
Airy, soft as clouds, but still so sharp.
Do they manage to hit the target? Or does the number of thoughts rise only, while the cloud grows?
And she stands still

Jürgen Heinz's sculpture "Moving Clouds" consisted of rods at the end of which three circular structures moved playfully in the wind.

The installation "My Cloud" - a data cloud of acrylic tiles by Kirsten Sauer/KISA, winner of the "bewegten winds 2016" prize - was located at the intersection between the Alpenpfad and higher Dörnberg and formed a cloud from several individual tiles.

Anne and Michael Rolfka exhibited "Ice Clouds" and "Global Clouds". For "Global Clouds" they asked artists from all over the world to send pictures of clouds and arranged the photos in the form of a cloud on the wall of a cabin.

Judith Mann's "Nebel-Aue" (Fog Meadow)- a constant fog wind that wavered over the ground and especially delighted children- concluded the tour of the Alpine Path.

The award ceremony in the Habichtswald Nature Park Center

Despite windy weather conditions and an occasional rain shower, a colorful mix of exhibiting artists, organizers, helpers, local politicians and sponsors gathered in the shelter of the tent in the garden of the Habichtswald Nature Park Centre to review the 9th edition of the festival and, above all, to announce and celebrate the winners.

The curator and other speakers paid tribute to the quality of the works exhibited, the popularity of exhibit and the number of visitors and emphasized the importance of giving rural regions the opportunity to experience art up close - something outside of the big art business in the cities. Since 2004, the Wind Art Festival has repeatedly mastered the challenge of reinventing itself and attracting crowds of visitors with its biennial exhibitions.

The jury awarded a total of four prizes: the first prize went to the Russian artist Aleksei Dmitriev, with his installation of branches and twigs, which he assembled on site to create an impressive sculpture. The second prize was shared by Irena Paskali from Macedonia with her video "2202m", in which she dealt with freedom, boundaries and the global refugee debate, as well as the Swiss artist Heinz Schmid with his work "...Wolken über..." (Clouds over...), whose mobile wire cloud formations attached to a rope at lofty heights continually allowed the view of the landscape to be perceived anew. The artist Adriano Cangemi from Argentina, who was awarded the special prize for his performance "NAGUAL - Moved by the wind" on August 28th at the Katzenstein, received a special award.

After the ceremony, he repeated his performed, captivating the audience once again. It was a very successful and effective conclusion of the 9th wind art festival "bewegter wind", which will hopefully call on artists from around the world to present their works of art again in 2020.