David Krippendorff and the feeling of home
Today we come to the Ephra floor a little sad, because it's our last day here for the time being. Today's theme fits like a glove: “Heimat”, the place where you feel at home. The artist visiting us today is called David Krippendorff and makes video art. His video works often deal with the themes of loss, identity and home, as in the video work "There is no place like home", which he shows us first.
Drawing into the air with Stella Geppert
Eagerly we sit in the Ephra Floor, because today the artist Stella Geppert is visiting us. When she arrives, we immediately sense the great calm and openness that Stella radiates. To get to know her and us even better, we start with a welcome game. Standing in a large circle, we all say our names one after the other and think of a special movement to go with it. Then Stella takes her place in the centre of the stage and is ready for our questions.
Who am I? And where can I participate? With Lerato Shadi
Today, on a cold June day, the performance artist Lerato Shadi comes to us in the Ephra floor. She is wearing a blue and black patterned top. But her favourite colour for work seems to be red! Red is simply the best colour for her artworks, she tells us. Because we associate it with the human body – but also with love or violence.
The necessity of art with Konstantino Dregos
We sit excitedly in the morning circle and watch out of the corner of our eyes as adhesive foil with a blackboard-like surface is attached to the glass walls of the Ephra floor. Are we having lessons today? Like at school? No, not quite. It’s a sunny, almost hot Wednesday and today the artist Konstantino Dregos is visiting us.
Creating living soil with Asad Raza
Today, the artist Asad Raza is visiting us in the Ephra floor. Asad is from New York and therefore speaks mainly English, which is a new experience for us. But some of us already feel quite confident in English and Rebecca is on hand to help us with difficult translations. We want to start the conversation with Asad with an ice-breaker question to lighten the mood. One of us asks: "If you were an animal, which one would you be?" Asad replies that he would like to be a dolphin because he would enjoy swimming in the water. It's a hot May day and we can all well imagine what a nice way to cool down it would be to swim in the big ocean as a dolphin.
Ambra Durante and the Black Box Blues
“When people say 'Ooh' at the sight of the colourful evening sky”, replies Ambra Durante when asked what makes her really happy. But now it's only 10 o'clock in the morning and she’s particularly happy to be spending time with us today. Ambra is 23 years old and paints, writes and draws pictures and books. She tries to put everything she feels and thinks into tiny little figures. She wanted to be an artist as a child – or join NASA, but physics wasn’t her thing. Painting and drawing as a child also helped her to come to terms with the world.
In search of colour with Ikram Labouini
The artist Ikram Labouini is coming to our floor today. We’re excited to meet her and discuss beforehand how we want to talk to Ikram because she comes from Italy and only speaks and understands a little German. We agree to speak mainly English with her. Luckily, many of us already know some English and otherwise Rebecca is by our side to help us with the translation.