The appeal of the unfinished

Gabi Reinhardt

To mark Peace Day on 5 March, young people from Ústí nad Labem in the Czech Republic and Chemnitz will be performing a joint theatre project at Neumarkt. They will be led by theatre educator Gabi Reinhardt, who has repeatedly focused on the city of Chemnitz in her theatre projects. For example, she has initiated and realised a theatrical city walk "Chemnitz umgraben" (Digging up Chemnitz) and the "Balkonballett" (Balcony Ballet) at the Chemnitz Rosenhof in recent years. We meet her, our Maker of the Week, in her studio on Augustusburger Straße, where there are not much more than two blue chairs, a few boxes and a table, as well as a number of pieces of paper hanging on the walls.

Why are you involved in the Peace Day?
Gabi Reinhardt: I think it's important to be active in an appropriate way and not leave the day to those who spread their right-wing ideology. I was approached by the city and we explored the topic. My thought was: what do peace and war have to do with us? For me, remembrance always means that it has something to do with the present and the future. This gave rise to the idea of a Czech-German project in which young people would explore this topic. I am very curious to see what will come out of it. What young people have to say on the subject, who have never experienced war here in Central Europe. Fortunately.

The project is called "Imagine it's war". So when young people work on the topic themselves, you don't know what the end result will be?
Not really. It's a short-term project. In this respect, I have to provide a framework within which they can move so that there is not too much freedom, but also not too little, and we achieve the goal of presenting something. In any case, there has to be enough space for them to think for themselves. I don't know what the content will be.

What do these frameworks that you provide look like?
I do research-based theatre. This means that the participants get involved in the topic themselves. We look for areas of friction. Research with themselves. And research with other people's material, because that takes you further. There are then writing tasks on a topic, for example. This results in very different texts and text formats. Some write a sentence or entire diary pages, poetic journeys of thought or everyday things. Although the task was the same for everyone. And that is precisely the point: how do we answer a task with what we carry within us? And from these texts that emerge, motifs for pictures, scenes or further texts are developed. I provide the framework and see how it is filled. A constant surrender, joint further development and building up a spiral. That's nice, because you don't get stuck in your own mind.

What appeals to you about your work? Is it this "you don't yet know what the end result will be"?
The best thing about processes is that you don't know what the outcome will be. I have a quote from Wolfgang Engler hanging on the wall here: "Travelling together in an open landscape instead of getting to the predetermined destination alone." That's also exhausting, not knowing where you're going. But yes, that also makes it nice. You're forced to be flexible. (laughs) You're always surprised. Of course I can make a plan. I'm generally very fond of plans. But I can be just as sure that this plan will be thrown overboard again. That's a good thing.

In September 2013, a tower block at Rosenhof was in the unusual spotlight. Gabi Reinhardt had spent six months working with the residents to collect stories about living there and put them together in a unique performance. An exhibition at the Chemnitz Schauspielhaus will be showing photos of this unique production until 28 February 2015.

Did your plan for the balcony ballet work out?
I had an idea of what elements I needed: video, music, dance. We only found out the stories that were told during the process.

What did the balcony ballet tell you about your love for the city?
(reflects) It was a lot about living in this house. The story about Chemnitz was only a meta-level. We included the impending closure of the Atomino in the play. And the topic of noise complaints generated a big reaction from the audience. What's interesting is that everyone said that they liked living in this building. That they live there deliberately. This form of housing is so great because they have everything close by. You don't have to rely on a car. It's great living for different generations.

Did the history of the house play a role?
Yes, of course. The GDR was also part of the story. The house was built in the 1960s and some people have lived there ever since. What the Plattenbau meant in the GDR, it no longer means. A coding process is taking place. And we've already managed to change the image somewhat with the balcony ballet. To say: people like to live in it.

Are you missing the commitment: prefabricated housing is part of Chemnitz?
High-rise housing estates rarely have a good reputation. The building was actually notorious, which I didn't realise. Personally, I think this building is beautiful. I like this architecture. These houses fascinate me. Of course, it seems to be covered in dreariness and prefabricated housing. But we were actually in the middle of the city centre, a high-rise building in Rosenhof that you don't really notice. And it's not a 'problem neighbourhood'. In my experience, the coding for Plattenbau in the GDR is completely different to Plattenbau in other cities, like Cologne. Even though it's exactly the same. That's pretty absurd.

In May 2015, the Balcony Ballet can be seen outside Chemnitz for the first time. The stories of three apartment blocks from the Bocklemünd district will be told at the Sommerblut cultural festival in Cologne. Gabi Reinhardt has been on site since January, making initial contact with the residents.

With what expectations is the project now starting in Cologne?
It's the same idea, but it's a different project. I'm now getting involved in it all over again. Of course, I'm taking the things that worked with me. I realise that I'm really benefiting from my experiences here. Both in terms of organisation and content. But the stories will be different. The people are different. The type of people is different. And the issues are different.

Can you already make a comparison between the two cities of Cologne and Chemnitz?
I was in Cologne for two and a half weeks and the initial reaction was completely different. At the beginning, I found the people in Chemnitz rather closed and a bit suspicious. It's different in Cologne. There was a lot of curiosity and interest. In Chemnitz, however, people were very reliable. Of course, I don't know that for Cologne yet. In Chemnitz, people even came to the dress rehearsal and premiere. That was also funny. (laughs)

Has there ever been anything like the Balcony Ballet anywhere else?
We did some research and there was nothing comparable. The Chemnitz Balcony Ballet is an absolute pilot project. There may have been a similar project in Switzerland, but with different aims and a different approach. It's an idea that we're now exporting to other cities for the first time and it's going down well there.

Is it possible in every city?
In principle, yes, but I don't want that. For me, it's important that I have an interest in this neighbourhood or this building. There has to be a reason for telling the story.

If you take the project to other cities, is Chemnitz still the city you keep coming back to?
I studied in Berlin. Many people smiled at me when I went back to Chemnitz after my studies. I always wanted to do that because it's a good production location for me. And the plan I had is now slowly coming to fruition. Chemnitz is my base camp. From here, I sometimes go somewhere else and do projects. It's really important for me to get out and about because, as a performing artist, foreign influences are totally important to me. I need change. It's a shame that it's difficult for me to exchange expertise in the city itself, because there's not much in the scene. But going out for projects is fun anyway. I get to know other areas and other people. And yet I still want to come back here. I like living here. And for me it has a lot to do with quality of life that I can be somewhere very quickly. I like the size of the city and the network that's here. When I'm in Potsdam, Berlin or somewhere else, everyone there complains: they share their studio with four or five others. I tell myself that it's quite easy to get your own studio here. These conditions are simply good.

What else makes Chemnitz a good production location for you?
It may be crazy, but: because - at a national and state level - Chemnitz rarely receives funding applications and the competition is manageable, Chemnitz is also a location advantage for me. I also know very quickly here who I need to call to realise certain things. I don't know if it's the same in other cities. But my network is here.

Your studio is located at the foot of the Sonnenberg. Do you have a special relationship with the building and the neighbourhood?
I live in the centre of Chemnitz and need the separation of working and living. Even though I'm self-employed and an artist. I find this space really beautiful and it changes with every project. This house is located right between the Sonnenberg, Gablenz and Luther neighbourhoods. A little nowhere-land. There's a printing workshop downstairs and a band of friends next door. This idea of creating spaces and synergies is already working here. I prefer to go here where it's unfinished. And this space is my thinking space. There's space here for the projects I'm working on.

You seem to feel very much at home here. Do you have to encourage the people of Chemnitz?
(ponders) I don't know. (thinks again) I wouldn't say "have to". Everything can, nothing has to. I'm thinking of an advertising slogan: "Fun is what you make of it." That's up to you. If I feel like standing up for Chemnitz and doing something, then I'll do it. And then I love it. I love it. I enjoy the things I do and the fact that I come here. If you can't do that, you might have less fun in life.