Art Lab unites international artists around General Council

by Amy Eckert

While WCRC delegates were worshiping and discerning in the Messe, a dozen artists gathered across town. Their task: To create artworks inspired by the General Council’s themes of transformation and Reformation, and to do so in just one week.

“We asked the artists not to arrive well-prepared with an idea already in mind,” said Jörg Reckhenrich who, along with Peter Winkels, curated Art Lab. “We truly wanted the artists to spend time together discussing and sharing ideas and then to allow those artworks to form as a result of their week here together.”

Half of the participating artists were from Leipzig while the other six came from Indonesia, Cameroon, Bangladesh, Spain, Syria and the United States. After meeting for the first time on Monday, June 25, they discussed with one another the themes proposed by the General Council. Then the artists went to work creating works of art, each utilizing his or her own artistic specialties.

“We interpreted the themes of transformation and Reformation broadly,” said Mr. Reckhenrich. “Our goal was not to illustrate reformation. As artists we don’t really work that way. Instead I would say we were inspired by those ideas.” The artworks that resulted from the gathering took various forms, including vivid acrylic paintings, contemporary performance art, video and artistic installation.

Joel Tanis, a participant from the U.S., expressed the satisfaction he felt in creating a new work surrounded by so many diverse artists and perspectives.

“I found it really interesting to talk with other artists from such diverse backgrounds, with such different perspectives. I enjoyed seeing what they do and how they find their inspiration.”

Tanis found the experience enlightening spiritually as well. “Europeans are big on social justice issues and they truly love the world. But they’re not generally very involved with the church. So I gave that a lot of thought here in Leipzig and decided to paint a more overtly Christian message in my pieces than I might have otherwise.”

Each work created at Art Lab will be displayed on the Nikolaikirchhof beginning at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 1.