Mehr oder Weniger

The 2022 Werkleitz Festival takes its bearings from the Mansfeld Land region, situated in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz in the state of Saxony Anhalt. In this region, testimonies to deindustrialisation, former mining operations and migration are found as if collected under a magnifying glass. The current political topics of structural change, coal phase-out and rural areas are closely intertwined here.

Against this background, Werkleitz has invited the artists Viktor Brim, Felicitas Fässler, Falk Haberkorn, Juliane Henrich, Sven Johne and Gregor Müller to speculate on the creation of value.

The exhibition Mehr oder Weniger (More or Less) presents the results of these artistic studies and observations. The film programme, curated by Maria Morata and Gerhard Wissner from the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, allows comparisons to be drawn between the structural change in Mansfeld and mining and post-mining landscapes in other regions and countries.

Guided walks in the Hettstedt neighbourhood, hosted discussions with the film guests and discussions with the artists about the exhibition create space for an exchange of ideas on what is more or less valuable or could be valuable in the future.

The venue for the 2022 Werkleitz Festival is the guest house for researchers and artists run by Werkleitz in Hettstedt since 2020. The house, henhouse and garden at Molmecker Strasse 82 will thus be opened for the first time as display spaces and an open-air cinema for the exhibition.