On Image Production in Mansfeld Land

The title of this year’s Werkleitz Festival has three components. Unter uns can refer to a confidential or even conspiratorial encounter or to a vaguely defined region that lies more or less far beneath our feet. How can we imagine the excavations, miles of tunnels and other vestiges of 800 years of copper mining in Mansfeld between Hettstedt and Sangerhausen? Image Production examines the most sensitive and compelling issues – production conditions, viewing perspectives, which technologies are used, with what motivation and at what time are images created. Mansfeld Land is a prototypical rural region. A space that has in part been considerably industrialized and that is fairly well developed, but that is not perceived as urban. Yet we will also cast our attention at the unique aspects of Mansfeld, including the dynamics of the Reformation, Peasants’ War and workers’ rebellions, intellectual and technological innovations – from Novalis to the steam engine – or what is probably the most drastic event in modern times: the dissolution of the enormous Mansfeld Combine following the reunification of Germany. Unter uns is a pilot project – an attempt to render the various layers and fractures of the region visible. We hope that the discussion with the artists featured in Unter uns will allow us to engage in an intensive dialogue regarding the interior and exterior images of Mansfeld Land.