It was cold on Wednesday at midday, but the sun was out, and around 100 people stood in Mühlenstraße in front of the scaffolding of the Rathsmühle. Since 4 November the façade exhibition has been officially open: a gallery in the open air, public and free of charge for as long as the building work lasts.
That every banner could already be seen is thanks to Sebastian Niewerth of Niewerth Gerüstbau. He put up a second scaffold especially, so that the works originally due to follow after the new year were hanging in time for the opening.
Art in the making
On behalf of the mayor, First Councillor Nicole Mrotzek welcomed the guests. Daniel Wunn spoke for the jury, and one sentence from his speech stays with us: “Because that is what art does best: not dictate, but make us think.”
Daniel Wunn also spray-painted a banner himself, and a few metres away a group of pupils from Oberschule Westercelle painted a picture together with their teacher Alexandra Socher. Music came from Lost Souls Gallery, Cocktail Kartell served drinks, and the Gröschner family’s small tortillas were almost all gone in no time.
One big family
Among the guests were artists whose works now hang on the scaffolding, representatives of the town of Celle, Stadtwerke Celle and Soroptimist International Club Celle, and people who happened to pass by and stopped. Zandra spoke of one big family. “It matters to us that something like this is not just for a select few, but for everyone, right in the middle of public space,” says Roman Thomas, deputy chair of Denk.Mal e.V.
In the morning, SAT.1 Regional had already visited us at Trift 32 and interviewed Katharina Gröschner and Zandra. You can watch the report (in German) at SAT.1 Regional.
Thank you to everyone who made this possible: the artists, our team and the jury, the town of Celle, Stadtwerke Celle, Soroptimist International Club Celle and Sebastian Niewerth.
All photos from the opening are on the Rathsmühle project page. The exhibition itself is open to everyone at any time: Rathsmühle, Mühlenstraße, Celle.
About the project