The residency programme welcomes the first guests

Laura Pannack and Bert Villa have been living and working in the Dübener Heide since the beginning of November as part of the residency programme ‘Passage’. Their different perceptions of the region are shaped by intensive research on youth culture in connection with traditional stories (Pannack) as well as visible structures of economic geography (Villa).

For Laura Pannack, encounters with people are central to her artistic work. She is interested to connect the uniqueness of a place with the nature of the person she photographs. In her photographic approach, Pannack completely redefines the understanding of how the traditional stories of the Dübener Heide region were received in different eras.

Bert Villa is fascinated by visible structures that directly serve the provision of resources. The drinking water supply from the Dübener Heide for the Leipzig/Halle area or the extraction of sand as the basis for the construction industry – as an architect, Villa knows which individual parts form a unit. Uncoding and breaking down these parts is Villa’s approach to develop a work about the region of the Dübener Heide.

The timelessness and the interruption provided by the residency allow both the development of a new theme. At the same time, ‘Passage’ is like an instrument that draws a circle but leaves a beginning and an end open.

Published: 25th November 2021