Kunsthaus Dresden

Welcome to WOD – The Open City of Dresden! Celebrating diversity and encounters between people with different social, religious and cultural backgrounds, the arts and science institutions in Dresden invite again to meet and enjoy art at the city’s centre.
Yellow containers will be placed for ten days on Neumarkt, Altmarkt, Postplatz, and Theaterplatz – public squares which have often witnessed destruction and other acts of aggression in the past. On the occasion of remembrance of the destruction of the city of Dresden in 1945 and in keeping with the motto “Remembering & Forgetting”,
#WOD aims to reflect on the interconnections of past, present and future, on the forms of remembrance and on the relationship of freedom, identity and diversity by inviting us to experience Dresden’s central squares as places of dialogue.

From February 10th to February 19th, we invite the citizens and visitors of Dresden to experience artistic projects, to meet and become part of this initiative for the freedom of art and people, for respect and openness.

Art in its many forms documents plurality which itself is based on the freedom of expression. Art in its variety mirrors the individuality and it can open up new perspectives on the world to those who hear, see or feel it. Art is able to shape communities and identities in their way of permanent transformation.

Like sciences, art can promote critical thinking, and helps trigger self-reflection. For many, Dresden’s vibrant cultural life and its rich artistic production define the city’s spirit today. The freedom which enables this cultural life needs to be protected, in particular in times, when this freedom is under threat. It needs people who stand for

humanistic values and for an atmosphere of tolerance.

In the fall of 2014 “#WOD – Initiative for an open city of Dresden” has been founded by cultural institutions of Dresden. Its goal was and is to stand together for freedom, democracy and solidarity in an open society. In times of increasing tendencies to undermine our democracy,

“# WOD” promotes impulses of our civil society to protect our democratic and free society by creating a thoughtful, critical and careful discourse. Culture and art are able to bridge differences in our society and enable communication where politics fail to do so. The cultural institutions of Dresden are sites of reflection, of endurance and of experiencing differences and the questioning and reassuring identities.

Participants of Remembering & Forgetting – #WOD Cultural Festival in Containers are: Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Semperoper Dresden, Hochschule
für Bildende Künste Dresden, tjg. theater junge generation, Kunsthaus Dresden, Technische Sammlungen Dresden, HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Dresden and
FILMFEST DRESDEN, Goethe-Institut Dresden, Literaturhaus Villa Augustin & Erich Kästner Museum, riesa efau, Kultur Forum Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, OSTRALE, Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, Cellex Stiftung and others.

“#WOD – Initiative for an open city of Dresden” has been founded in 2014 by cultural institutions of Dresden and acts under the patronage of the State Minister for Research and the Arts, Dr.
Eva-Maria Stange and the Mayor of Dresden, Dirk Hilbert.
Remembering & Forgetting – #WOD Cultural Festival in Containers is sponsored by Kulturhauptstadtbüro 2025, the City of Dresden and Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden.

#WOD Cultural Festival in Containers - Remebering & Forgetting

Events:

„Die Goldberg-Bedingung“, 2017 with introduction by Roland Schwarz, Direktor Technische Sammlungen

„Phlegethon-Milczenie“, Performance I ( live ioutside the Container) Monika Weiss (NY)

„Phlegethon-Milczenie“, Performance II ( live inside the Container) Monika Weiss (NY)

„Die Goldberg-Bedingung“, 2017 with introduction by Roland Schwarz, Direktor Technische Sammlungen