Cäcilia Brown/Anna Hofbauer/Mikkel Holm Torp

Minerals and overalls

26 July–22 August 2020

Media
Works with stone, steel, drawing, photography, video, all media welcome

Location
Untersberg quarry

Teaching language
English (the teachers also speak German, Danish, French and Italian)

What to bring
Weatherproof clothing, safety goggles and work gloves, earmuffs, dust mask, stout work shoes (if possible with steel toe-caps), sunscreen, swimsuit, tools and material for your desired technique. Basic stone tools are provided.

Requirements
Previous experience in stone sculpting is welcome but not required.

Maximum number of participants
12

Participation fee
€ 1,240.– (€ 920.–)

As opposed to biological life, minerals are often seen as something dead – yet they interact with us in numerous ways. The Untersberg quarry lies as a cavity in the green Untersberg mountainside, where stone has formed the life of humans for centuries, as humans have engaged with the shaping of stone. It offers ideal conditions for different approaches to the material as well as to the landscape of stone production.

Awareness of the relation of exchange between material and place and place and individuals is explored with stone as a point of departure, understood as an artistic material itself alongside or in relation to other materials and media.

In this course, participants and the teaching artists live and work for four weeks directly on site. In the atmosphere of a symposium exchange and individual work progress is valued equally. We will discuss emerging questions on shape, surface, forms of language, expression and intention.

Participants can learn or refine technical skills in the treatment of stone, explore the possibilities and limitations of working in limestone and get to know the light, colour and textural qualities of this specific material or work site-specically in other media.

Helping each other, discussing ideas, maybe developing a collective practice or working individually as well as preparing food and maintaining everyday life in the quarry are common ground – there will be core working hours which can be freely adjusted depending on the project.

Students in this course generally live and work in the former workers' houses on site. Everyday life in the quarry (cooking, cleaning, etc.) is organised by the students themselves. From Saturday evening, 25 July, simple dormitory accommodation is available in the quarry grounds for € 7.- per night. An invoice will be issued in advance.