A week of kunstBEWEGT at DASMAXIMUM - a look back

"As soon as I walked in, I noticed that something new was happening and that there would be lots of colors"
Quote from a workshop participant

A total of 140 participants got DASMAXIMUM moving in the week from July 15 to 18. The new project artMOVED is aimed at people with and without inclusion needs of all ages and invites groups from social and educational institutions to get to know the art at DASMAXIMUM in a completely new way. The project premiered with artworks by minimalist artist Imi Knoebel and the response from everyone involved exceeded expectations.

Participants from Lebenshilfe Traunreut at kunstBEWEGT in front of Imi Knoebel, Fishing Yellow I, 2008, (c) VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024, Photo: Vanessa Zmudzinski

Inclusion and cultural participation have long played a major role at DASMAXIMUM. With the predecessor project "Word:Pictures", groups from social institutions and schools have been invited over the past ten years to experience the museum's artworks together through words, poems and conversation. To mark the 10th anniversary, an e-book was created with the most beautiful improvised poems from the project, which here can be downloaded. Now it was time for something new, and so the museum team came across the two Munich dance teachers Andrea Marton and Ute Schmitt. The two have been offering inclusive dance workshops in Munich for many years, and increasingly in museums. The concept for a new educational format for DASMAXIMUM was based on the aim of detaching the experience of art from cognitive approaches and using movement to shift it to a physical and even more intuitive level that facilitates access for groups with special needs. The result is artMOVED: a project that makes art tangible through movement and community, but conversely also expands the creative space in the museum.

Participants at kunstBEWEGT in the Imi Knoebel Hall of the DASMAXIMUM museum, (c) VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024, Photo: Vanessa Zmudzinski

"I admit I was skeptical as to whether it would work with our guests suffering from dementia. But after just under 2 hours, I was completely thrilled and convinced that it was a complete success." - This was the feedback from Günter Striegel, head of the Auszeit senior citizens' garden in Traunreut, who took part in kunstBEWEGT together with a group of pupils from Hertzhaimer Gymnasium in Trostberg.

Another goal lies in the encounter. artMOVED should not work exclusively for individual groups, but should bring together a wide variety of people. "Mixed Ability", i.e. combining individual abilities, is very much in the spirit of the two dance teachers Andrea and Ute. This was also an important concern for the participating groups, who were involved in the conception of the project at an early stage. During the project week, several groups took part in sessions together: senior citizens from the Traunreut "Seniorengarten Auszeit", a day center for people with dementia, moved together with students from the AK Kunst of the Hertzhaimer Gymnasium in Trostberg. The result was a "relaxed, playful and cheerful atmosphere"who dispelled all skepticism after just a few minutes. Young people from the pre-vocational training program at the Jugendsiedlung in Traunreut and the Caritas Traunstein day center formed a team with a lot of humour and ease. "Something like this would not happen so easily in the context of our daytime services"said Annemarie Hufnagel, social education worker at Caritas. The pupils from Traunreut secondary school also formed a lively community with a small group of senior citizens from the Pur Vital care center.

"I can't describe it exactly, but I enjoyed creating works of art with others." - Quote from workshop participant:in

But self-contained groups are also welcome and enrich kunstBEWEGT with the diversity of the people taking part. The prerequisite was a protected space that allowed all participants to let go and get moving with ease and in a very individual way in an exploration of Imi Knoebel's abstract works of art.

"After five minutes at the latest, everyone realized that something special was coming. It wasn't just the postures - even the things that usually occupied the mind were suddenly turned around, redirected, stopped, left to the space. The reactions took place spontaneously, without many words, simply through concentrated joint perception and with full physical commitment, sometimes supported by music. "Body is soul" (and vice versa) - this was demonstrated time and again." - Hannah Kleuser, art therapist at PSO Traunstein

The young people from the child and adolescent psychosomatic clinic at Traunstein Hospital demonstrated the strengths of the project in particular: opening up does not always have to take place with words. Perceiving and getting to know art through movement is sometimes easier and also means getting closer to yourself and your fellow participants. A group of pupils from the Petö School Oberaudorf, a small inclusive private school, also brought community and movement between Imi Knoebel's expansive works of art, which lend themselves to translating themes such as grouping, isolation, overlapping and dynamics into movement. The TANGO group from Lebenshilfe Traunreut impressively demonstrated that kunstBEWEGT not only creates a relationship between the participants, but also between the artworks and the people. The senior citizens with disabilities quickly got into the rhythm and themes of the workshop. From the smallest movements with their hands to expansive dance steps, the participants extended the image on the wall into the room, not least because it has been scientifically proven that learning content is consolidated even more through movement. A teacher from Traunreut secondary school commented: "The pupils will never forget Imi Knoebel and his red-blue-yellow pictures again and will recognize them everywhere. 

From the picture, into the body and back again: At the end of the sessions, not only was a final "living picture" created, but also individual drawings by each participant, which retranslated the movements, feelings and experiences into a drawing, and therefore a picture.

Final pictures kunstBEWEGT, Photo: Vanessa Zmudzinski

For four days, in a total of six sessions, the DASMAXIMUM artMOVED. Everyone involved can look back on four days full of community, art, movement and exhilarating moments, a space that values each person in their individuality.The first year of the project was a great success and even exceeded expectations. A continuation next year is therefore already firmly planned.

The project week concluded on Thursday evening as part of the summer night at the museum. At a public kunstBEWEGT session on the artist John Chamberlain, both the week's participants and visitors to the summer festival were invited to explore the art at DASMAXIMUM through their own physical experience.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the two dance teachers Andrea Marton and Ute Schmitt, who not only led the individual sessions with incredible appreciation, but also made such a completely new concept of art experience at DASMAXIMUM possible with their expertise and professionalism. We would also like to thank all the participants and the numerous dedicated supervisors, who played a decisive role in the success of the project with their individual expertise right from the conception phase and also contributed their full physical commitment during the sessions. Thanks also go to the museum supervisors, who were confronted with completely new challenges and were responsible not only for the safety of the artworks but also that of the participants.

And of course a big thank you to the generous supporters and sponsors of kunstBEWEGT, without whom the whole project would not have been possible: my Volksbank Raiffeisenbank eG, the Traunstein District Office, the Friends and Sponsors of the Museum and private donors from the Friends and Sponsors.

Snapshot of the kunstBEWEGT closing session for the summer festival in front of the sculpture "Burnt Piano" by John Chamberlain, (c) VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024, Fairweather&Fairweather Ltd, Photo: V.Zmudzinski/DASMAXIMUM