Studios in Dachau: KVD calls for more urban space for artists – Dachau

After the small residential building on Thoma Street in the curve opposite the Venezia ice cream parlor was demolished, one day a strange, tiny glass construction stood in its place. It consisted of two interconnected telephone boxes, but without a telephone line. In front of the eyes of the astonished passers-by, Anna Dietze moved into her new workplace there in August 2018, which included a suspended, height-adjustable table, shelves hanging on chains and a chair. There she sat for three weeks between overgrown undergrowth in her glass box of two and a half square meters and drew what she could see out there.

Three and a half years ago, the “Tiny Atelier” was her contribution to the anniversary exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the Dachau Artists’ Association (KVD). At the same time, it was an experimental arrangement in which she tested the extent to which artistic processes still work in a minimal space. “The lack of space has always accompanied me,” says the 32-year-old. It is extremely difficult, especially for young artists, to find space to work in Dachau – especially one that they can afford. There aren’t that many of them.

“The last new studio in the city was created in the 1980s,” says KVD chairman Johannes Karls. “Since then, the city has grown by 10,000 to 15,000 people.” And the infrastructure has grown with it: schools, day-care centers, and the new indoor pool is also to be expanded. Hardly anything has changed in the highly coveted urban studios because they are heavily subsidised; some of them have even disappeared due to conversion.

A “living city of artists” – what does that mean?

From the point of view of the KVD, it is about a fundamental question, which board member Florian Marschall puts it like this: “Do we want to be a lively, active artists’ town or develop into a museum-like Worpswede?” Like Dachau, Worpswede was an important artist colony around the turn of the century, but like most of the former artist colonies of that time, the place no longer has a significant contemporary art scene. It’s different in Dachau. KVD chairman Johannes Karl says they pride themselves on being “a lively city of art,” but nothing is happening to bring the necessary structures into line with developments. “Where you have to step into the breach, you hold back elegantly.”

The wind is blowing in the artists’ faces, as his colleague on the board Margot Krottenthaler explains: In a city where life is so expensive, and at a time when the vernissages have collapsed due to the corona pandemic, it has become “really difficult as an artist” to stay afloat. Krottenthaler believes that if the city of Dachau does not want to spend its scarce resources on art, that is a legitimate political decision that one has to accept. But then you have to say that clearly and unequivocally.

Open detailed view

According to Tobias Schneider, head of the cultural office, the city currently has 15 studio spaces. This puts Dachau in a “significantly better” position than other municipalities of this size, even if he admits that there is certainly “a little more demand” than the city has to offer. Nevertheless, the “basic equipment” is quite good overall. And the fact that nothing has changed since the 1980s, as KVD chairman Karl says, is also not entirely true. In 2015, the city set up another studio in the Ruckteschell villa, where Sina Weber now works. “Of course there could always be more,” he says, but it’s not that easy to create studios, for that you first need the right real estate. The city doesn’t have that.

After the Scheibner business school moved out, the Ziegler villa on Ludwig-Dill-Strasse stood empty for years. For the house built in 1898 and extended in 1903 and 1906, in which the painter Adolf Hölzl once lived, there were at times considerations to set up additional studios. “Of course that would have been great,” says Schneider today. But fire safety deficiencies and a renovation that would have cost millions persuaded the city to rather discard the battered gem.

The MD site offers new opportunities

Many artists are now pinning their hopes on the MD site: the city wants to create more than 9,000 square meters of usable space for cultural and social purposes in the listed halls of the old paper mill. Couldn’t one also provide 100 square meters of space for artists who could sporadically work experimentally here, asks Florian Marschall. Wouldn’t that be a good idea to attract more young artists from the academy in Munich to Dachau?

Such considerations have not played a major role in the city’s planning so far. “The feasibility of studios was not in the foreground,” says Schneider. Among other things, the picture gallery, the new gallery and the district museum and possibly also a workers’ and industry museum supported by the district, district and city are to move into the halls. A youth culture center is also planned, the concept of which also includes rooms for creative work. No studios, but still.

Florian Marschall emphasizes that he very much appreciates what the city of Dachau does to promote art, “that’s a lot, and at all levels”. It’s not about making big demands, “I can always do that as an artist”. The aim must be “to find solutions together in dialogue”. It’s not just about money, it’s also about ideas. Marschall also thinks it’s high time to start thinking about new designs for studios. “The traditional forms often ignore today’s needs.” You might have to come up with a few new things these days, he says. “Becoming a bit visionary would be nice.”

Less space for more artists

However, one has to give the city, and above all Tobias Schneider the head of the cultural department, credit for the fact that Dachau has now found a new way of accommodating its artists. Residential studios that have become vacant are gradually being converted into work studios, which are now often used jointly by several artists. For example, Karin Schuff, Margot Krottenthaler and Claudia Flach share the domicile of Thomas Vesely, who died in 2017, in Kleine Moosschwaige. Everyone now has their own small floor and everyone can use it as long as they want. Unlike in Munich, the studios in Dachau are given for an unlimited period. Florian Marschall still has one of the last live-in studios in Dachau, also in Kleine Moosschwaige. But he also needs that. “I couldn’t afford an apartment and a studio,” he says.

And how long is the waiting list? Tobias Schneider, head of the cultural department, says there can’t really be any question of a “waiting list”; it’s more of a list of “prospects”; everyone who asked also had rooms in which they could work. He currently has twelve such prospects on the list.

Open detailed view

Anna Dietze’s name was on it for a long time. The 32-year-old is still studying at the Academy of Fine Arts. There are actually workshops for artists there, “however, they are currently closed due to the corona”. Her father has a workroom in Vierkirchen, but you can’t use it now in winter; it is not heated. In January 2021, together with her father Alfred Ullrich, she took over the studio of the deceased in 2018 gigi Applied. “We had no other choice,” she says. Anna Dietze knew that they would have better chances in a double pack. Finally it worked. When the studio is completely renovated, father and daughter can move in on March 1st.

Alfred Ullrich will probably take up the largest part of the area, the graphic artist’s printing presses need space. For herself, Anna Dietze has already circled a few “clean” areas in the shared studio, where she and her work are safe from printer ink and where her baby can crawl around safely. She is very happy about that. “Space and time are the most important things for artistic processes,” she says. “You have to be able to encounter his work.” That also requires a bit of distance. Two and a half square meters, as she has already established in her project with the Tiny Atelier, is not enough for this.