"Homelands" – what are they? Is there a plural form of "homeland," this word that exists in hardly any other language and with which such diverse ideas are associated? From August 27th to September 3rd, young people and young adults embarked on a photographic and cinematic exploration of different perspectives and images of "homelands" as part of the BilderBewegungBerlin2016 (Image Movement Berlin 2016) project:
What does home smell and sound like? What does our digital home look like, or what does a shared vision of home look like? Right from the start of the seminar, the "Home Lab" focused on connecting substantive discussion with photographic and film experiments.
Subsequently, all three parallel workshop groups—digital photography, black and white photography, and experimental short film—experienced different aspects, perspectives, and approaches to "home" in Berlin as a place of history and cultural diversity. What they all had in common was the development of concepts through a process of substantive exchange and discussion, combined with practical exercises in image composition and camera technology.
What role does birthplace or place of residence still play in a globalized media landscape? Can homelands disappear due to historical and current societal changes, thereby altering their meaning? Does the concept of home change with the smartphone in our pocket, which keeps our social environment present regardless of location? What does a "new" or "second" homeland, so often discussed in public discourse, actually mean?
Additional inspiration for the artistic process and its practical implementation was provided by Martina Plura, director, and Monika Plura, cinematographer, during the artists' talk at #bbb2016. Both gained recognition in 2015 with the television film "Vorstadtrocker" and were award winners at the film competitions of the German Children's and Youth Film Center, the cooperation partner of this seminar. Furthermore, both had participated in summer workshops at the wannseeFORUM as teenagers and captivated the current participants with film clips and accounts of their journeys from their early days to their current film projects. Fueled by this encouragement and motivation to develop and implement their own ideas, the workshops continued:
Using analog SLR cameras, the participants in the black-and-white photography workshop realized their visual concepts, developed the films themselves, and made prints in the darkroom for a joint final exhibition.
In the digital photography , a particular challenge was printing the participants' own photo series with a professional A3 large format printer for the exhibition on the presentation day.
In the experimental short film, the individual participants became a film team that jointly developed decision-making processes regarding content and artistic design, and then implemented these in front of and behind the camera as well as during film production on the computer.
The result is a diverse range of works exploring different perspectives on the concept of "home."
For example, "Idem" (from the Latin idem ," meaning "the same") uses images of tattooed codes to examine the relationship between the individual and society. The work "Arrival" engages in a dialogue about "home" with a resident of a refugee shelter. Other works from the black-and-white photographyworkshop address questions about the connection between home and shelter, the memory of origins, and the interplay between analog and digital existence in the here and now.
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Links to other photographic works from the black and white photography workshop published on Flickr:
“Ciao Kakao” by ArinaChernova, “Hybrid” by Johanna Eppler, “Arrival” by Aline Fuchs, “Homeless” by Jessica Kuhn
The relationship between places and familiarity, associated memories, mobility, new perspectives, and boundaries such as security and freedom are explored in series from the digital photographyworkshop. Berlin, with its familiar and yet-to-be-discovered spaces, plays a central role.
Maryam Saifi, Link to the photo series on Flickr
Links to other photographic works published on Flickr:
Sarra Dziri, Alex Harbich, Marie-Theres Jung, Björn C. Sindermann
In “Heim-Weg”, the experimental short film , Berlin also becomes a stage for different perspectives, perceptions, speeds and more in a city of diverse “home” or many “homes”.
“We considered that home not only has a different meaning for everyone, but can also be a place you've never been to, but have always wanted to be, and where you would like to live. Therefore, we wanted to show the two different characters and how and where they feel at home. Character A relies on their familiar/beloved home, while Character B focuses on something new, colorful, and adventurous,” Marie-Paulin Melzig describes the development process of the film idea.
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The exploration of "home" will remain a compelling topic in the future, as it connects personal experiences, feelings, and visions of life with socio-political questions and value discourses in an ever-changing world. The BilderBewegungBerlin (Image Movement Berlin) will leave behind fascinating discussions and diverse images as an attempt to explore "home.".
The BilderBewegungBerlin 2016 is a cooperation between the wannseeFORUM Berlin Foundation and the German Children's and Youth Film Center (KJF).
Two participation contributions were financed from the funds of the wannseeFORUM Foundation to enable refugee youth to participate free of charge.
The seminar was funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Science
and supported with technology by Alex Offener Kanal Berlin and Canon
