Unter uns – Image Production in Mansfeld Land

The 2020 Werkleitz Festival explores contemporary image production in rural regions based on the example of Mansfeld Land. The model project invites artists and researchers to work together with actors from the region to bring together external observations with self-perceptions.

After the cancellation of the Werkleitz Festival in May as a result of COVID-19, we have utilized this unusual period to continue developing the project Unter uns – Image Production in Mansfeld Land and to create a festival base in Hettstedt. This was used throughout the summer as a meeting place, a departure point for research and as accommodation for excursions into the region. In addition we continued to hold our neighbourhood meetings here, where we got to know even more wonderful people, hear personal stories and make some new friends.

The Werkleitz Festival in Hettstedt is one intermediate outcome of the Unter uns project. The festival events offer a framework to collaboratively discuss transformations and fractures in Mansfeld Land and to pose questions regarding the region’s future. Panel discussions with individuals featured in the film programme, impressions from the participating artists and the insights of experts will provide us with new ideas. The essence of this exchange and the results of further artistic and academic research will be collected in a magazine for Unter uns that will be released next year.