THE WORKSHOP SEASON STARTS AGAIN
22 March 2010
In 2010 I am going to connect the ongoing "Höfer Waren" project with and EU funded research and dissemination project called RHYZOM, which is all about local cultural production and translocal dissemination.
Between the 24th and 27th May 2010 a very exiting group will get together in Höfen to discuss, brainstorm and sketch what the next product could be. We'll be looking at local clay, its history and traditions with a particular focus on who it has/is been used by women in their everyday lives. Clay can still be dug on almost any field, and we want to use it to do some fast prototyping followed by a public presentation.
Participants include women from Höfen, members of the RHYZOM initiative, Celine Condorelli and MA architecture students from a42.org from the Academy in Nuremberg and clay and ceramic specialists such as Alexandra Gaba van Dongen from the ceramics collection at the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam,
Michael Back who runs the historic brick making workshop at the Plein Air Museum in Bad Windsheim and Matthias Gunzelmann, a specialist on the local and regional history.
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Plans for 2010
05 January 2010
Höfer Waren are on display as part of a new International Village Shop project at the Kunstverein Springhornhof in Neuenkirchen (Ger).
Höfer Waren didn't happen in 2009 - due to personal circumstances of some of the key people, micro local politics and the fact the group of women didn't want to run a stall themselves.
In 2010 the development and production of a new Höfer Ware will be linked to the ongoing paneuropean cultural project Rhyzom. We're planning a brainstorm and production workshop for spring 2010, around issues of female rural production and the history of local clay.
Throughout 2010 the Höfer Waren will be further distributed through the International Village Shop activities.
The Butterspoon is currently sold out.
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The 2008 stall and launch of the Village Produce films
06 October 2008
The stall opened straight after the sunday service, and we were showing the eight new Village Produce films alongside offering well known and new produce.
The response to the films was very good, and they seem to work the way we had hoped. The Höfer films were of course more popular - listening to frog sound or the bells ringing and the women shouting and laughing - but the films from Lawson Park and Wjelsryp were requested frequently. There was a real sense of different locations, and Höfen is one.
The stall went a bit slower this year - we think for various reasons. A bit of village politics, but there is also an enormous increase in markets all around. Good news is, that our "over-priduction" will now be on offer at the Royal Academy in November.
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Meeting to discuss this year's event
18 June 2008
We met to watch the recently finished Village Produce films, and to discuss what should happen during the village fete this year. Village politics seem to be a bit strange at the moment, and it seemed necessary to question if we want to continue at all.
Which was answered with a clear yes.
The new product will be DVDs of the films which have been produced together with cinematograper Annemarie Lean-Vercoe and editor Sue Giovanni.
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Filming Höfer Goods
11 January 2008
A selection of Höfer Goods has been filmed as part of a joint initative by
myvillages.org, public works and Grizedale Arts to nurture and further international exchange of rural goods and ideas. The films will be first shown as part of Grizedale's Agrifashionista project in March 2008.
Thanks to Annemarie Lean-Vercoe for her hard work carrying the camera and pushing for meaningful footage!
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