30 years of IKS
Art festival – conference – film
The Saxonian Institute for Cultural Infrastructure celebrated its thirtieth anniversary on 24 May 2024 with an art festival, a cultural policy conference and the premiere of the film «Görlitz Rhythms – A Dance of Cultures».
The Conference «Against the Grain – Cultural policy in history and the Saxon present | Gegen den Strich – Kulturpolitik in Geschichte und sächsischer Gegenwart» was jointly organised by the Kulturraum Oberlausitz-Niederschlesien, the Institute and the University of Zittau/Görlitz on the triple occasion of 30 years of the Saxonian Cultural Areas Act, 30 years of research and teaching cultural policy studies at the Saxonian Institute for Cultural Infrastructure Act, 30 years of teaching cultural policy in Görlitz.
Speakers from the Council of Europe, from Tokyo, Riga, Naples, Krakow, Marburg and Chemnitz spoke about foreign suggestions for Saxony’s cultural policy. The Solemn speech by Matthias Theodor Vogt focussed on the future of the Cultural Areas in Saxony Act. Moderated by Cultural Secretary Annemarie Franke, KR Oberlausitz-Niederschlesien, representatives of the Saxonian State Parliament, the Cultural Senate, cultural associations and cities discussed.
Here is a documentation with photos by Andreas Zgraja.
Here is the site with the YouTube links to all contributions (in English lnguage in the second part).
Benigna 
The Art Festival took place in the “Benigna” on Görlitz’s Untermarkt, one of the city’s most historically significant buildings. It is named after Benigna Horschel. On Whitsunday 1464, she was impregnated by the mayor’s son Georg Emmerich and was then disgracefully dumped. The conflict between the Emmerich and Horschel families was to lead to a turning point in the city’s history, far more exciting than the teenage drama Romeo and Juliet,
In the proud tradition of the Görlitz students “Culture and Management” (here some words by Matthias Theodor Vogt why he choose Görlitz as the place of studies) who often are dealing with complex issues in the city and region (and far beyond), the institute received an enquiry from Robert Lehleiter and Christian Weise. They wanted a utilisation concept for the “Benigna”. Supervised by Matthias Theodor Vogt and Maik Hosang, 12 female and 1 male student pursued this question in a research seminar in collaboration with council archivist Siegfried Hoche and a Bonn theatre group, supervised by René Harder, during the winter term 2023/24.
The test of the theory (published in April 2024, here to download) was the art festival on 24 May 2024.
Art festival
Photodocumentation with photos by Andreas Zgraja, Görlitz <mail@andi.film>
Maestro Luca Lombardi and Miriam Meghnagi from Rome performed a work for the thirtieth anniversary of the institute (world premiere and first joint performance).
Former Minister President Georg Milbradt from Dresden gave the laudatory speech.
Maria Davydchyk performed a Belarusian folk song.
Steffi Bärmann from Zittau let the Upper Lusatian dialect resound.
Elisabeth Domsgen from Görlitz recited a ballad by Bürger.
Honorary Consul Stefan Liebing from Hamburg honoured the research and institute projects on Africa.
Princess Esperance from Bafoussam sang a Cameroonian song.
Joseline Amutuhaire performed a Ugandan dance, with Tomas Ondrusek from Waldheim on the drums.
Hans-Peter Struppe from Görlitz and Cornelia Wosnitza from Dresden sang cheeky modern songs.
The Art Festival finished with a song of 21 former UNESCO students “Culture and Management” (having enrolled 1997), congratulating in Latvian, Polish, Sorbian, Czech and German languages.
Museum:
Thirty years of IKS
Some of the work of the Saxonian Institute for Cultural Infrastructure is documented at https://kultur.org/. To mark the institute’s anniversary, the archives were opened and an exhibition put together with the help of our student intern Jakob Bormann as curator.
Film Görlitz Rhythms – A Dance of Cultures
Premiere 24 May 2024, Benigna Görlitz
On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the
Saxonian Institute for Cultural Infrastructure
Concept: Matthias Theodor Vogt, Görlitz
Camera and editing: Andreas Zgraja, Görlitz <mail@andi.film>
The film can be downloaded free of charge as Creative Commons ShareAlike CC BY-SA (1.0 2.0 2.5 3.0 4.0) and installed on your own website.
“Without immigration, Görlitz is lost”, said the then mayor Siegfried Deinege during the research for the study “Ankommen in der deutschen Lebenswelt“. Immigration, however, is a process in which pre-conscious assumptions – positive or negative stereotypes – play a decisive role in deciding on a destination for the journey.
When the Cameroonian mayor Roger Tafam was promoting Görlitz in June 2023, he realised that the disparagement of the city as xenophobic on English-language social media was so strong that the parents of the young people he wanted to send to Görlitz for training vetoed the idea and no one wanted to come.
The objective data is exactly the opposite. No city in Saxony has a higher proportion of foreigners than Görlitz, not even Leipzig and certainly not the state capital Dresden. The data from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the criminal investigation offices point to peaceful coexistence (see Vogt 2023). If Görlitz’s entrepreneurs want to attract excellent workers in times of a shortage of skilled labour, they urgently need to change the media’s denigration by providing facts. Görlitz county’s inglorious first place in the European elections on 9 June 2024 has opened the door to further suspicions.
Roger Tafam suggested presenting parents with a film about the real Görlitz in English in YouTube format to respond to the allegations of “manifest xenophobia” circulating on the internet. With the film “Görlitz Rhythms – A Dance of Cultures” and in cooperation with the Municipal Hospital, the Malteser Hospital, the University of Zittau/Görlitz and many civil society actors, the Institute has realised this idea together with Andi Zgraja, Görlitz (camera and editing).
The film is short and asks just one question: What is special about Görlitz? The data is impressive and stimulates discussion.
On the occasion of the institute’s anniversary, we are making the film available to all Görlitz companies in two soundtracks: (a) with the 2nd string quartet “Intime Letters” by Leoš Janáček and (b) a brass recording. Which music do you like better? And which do you think your contacts like best?
Film “Görlitz Rhythms – A Dance of Cultures” Music: Leoš Janáček (1854-1928): String Quartet No. 2, “Intimate Letters”, IV Allegro – Andante – Adagio. With kind permission of Erica Brenner and Jessica Sherwood [6 December 2023) Alexi Kenney, violin 1 (Chamber Fest Cleveland Young Artist), David Bowlin, violin 2, Dimitri Murrath, viola, Julie Albers, cello Performed on June 24, 2016 Mixon Hall, Cleveland Institute of Music Cleveland, Ohio Chamber Fest Season 5 http://chamberfestcleveland.com Audio: Ian Dobie – Dobie Digital Productions, Editing: Erica Brenner http://ericabrennerproductions.com
Film “Görlitz Rhythms – A Dance of Cultures”
Music: O Chanucah (Instrumental). YouTube Audio Library
Scientific preliminary work, among others
Vogt, Matthias Theodor; Fritzsche, Erik; Meißelbach, Christoph (2016): Ankommen in der deutschen Lebenswelt. Migranten-Enkulturation und regionale Resilienz in der Einen Welt [Arriving in the German lifeworld. Migrant Enculturation and Regional Resilience in The One World]. Foreword by Rita Süßmuth and afterword by Olaf Zimmermann. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag 2016, 526 p., ISBN: 978-3-8305-3716-8.
Vogt, Matthias Theodor (2021d): On the threshold to visibility and dignity. The long story of Polish migrants at Görlitz/Zgorzelec. In: Inocent-Mária V. OP Szaniszló (Ed.), Invisible migrant workers and visible human rights. Angelicum Press, Rome (pp. 169-187). [Here is the German version]
Vogt, Matthias Theodor (2021f): Elements of a socio-economy of women in Cameroon. Text and fifty annotated graphics, In: Vogt et al: Catalogue Cameroon through the eyes of a thousand women | Kamerun mit den Augen von tausend Frauen, Görlitz 2021, pp. 245-356. German version: Vogt, Matthias Theodor (2021f): Elemente einer Sozioökonomie der Frauen in Kamerun. Text und fünfzig kommentierte Graphiken. In: Vogt et al: Catalogue Cameroon with the eyes of a thousand Women, Görlitz 2021, pp. 127-244.
Vogt, Matthias Theodor (2022a): The Corona Juventocide. Political immunosenescence due to distorted census weight at the expense of young age cohorts. ISSN 2036-7821, Year 14, Volume 1/2022, pp. 33-94 amministrativamente. Journal of Administrative Law (Classe A), Università degli Studi di Roma “Foro Italico” http://www.amministrativamente.com/index.php/formez/issue/view/836. [Here is the German version]
Vogt, Matthias Theodor (2023): Umgang mit Unterschieden. In Vorbereitung von Forschung zu einer enkulturativen Pflegestrategie in der dreifachen Peripherie von Ostsachsen, Niederschlesien und Nordost-Böhmen. English version: Vogt, Matthias Theodor (2023): Managing Difference. Preliminary Research to an Enculturational Care Strategy in the Triple Periphery of Eastern Saxony, Lower Silesia and North-Eastern Bohemia. In: Koltai, Zsuzsa; Vogt, Matthias Theodor (editors): Cross-cultural resilience building / Interkulturelle Resilienz stärken. Tudásmenedzsment 2023/ special issue #3, Pécs University].
Miguoué, Jean-Bertrand (2023): Einführung [Introduction]. In: Vogt, Matthias Theodor, Schreiter, Nathalie; Mandakh, Namuundari; Miguoué, Jean-Bertrand (2023): Interkulturelles Erwartungsmanagement von Ankommenden, Stadtbevölkerung und Pflegeteams. Bericht über das Forschungsseminar zum Projekt Interkulturelles Jahr Pflege im Master Studiengang Kultur und Management. Sommersemester 2023, Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz [Intercultural Expectation management of arrivals, urban populations and care teams. Report on the research seminar on the project Intercultural Year of Caree in the Master’s programme Culture and Management. Summer semester 2023, University of Zittau/Görlitz].
We would like to thank the following persons for their kind cooperation:
Prof Dr Annegret Bergmann
Tokyo University a.d. and Free University of Berlin
Philipp Bormann
Administrative Director Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theatre Görlitz-Zittau
Her Highness Princesse Esperance Fezeu
Association Esperancza CADE Bafoussam (Cameroon)
Danielle Tchouanche Fezeu
Bafoussam (Cameroon)
Dr Annemarie Franke
Cultural Secretary Cultural Region Upper Lusatia-Lower Silesia
Jacqueline Gitschmann
Senckenberg Museum of Natural History, Görlitz
Ines Hofman
Managing Director of Görlitz Municipal Hospital
Khaliunaa Bayarsaikhan
scient. Research Associate, Saxonian Institute for Cultural Infrastructure
Steffi Lehn
Head of Human Resources, Görlitz Municipal Hospital
Namuundari Mandakh
Student “Culture and Management”, University of Zittau/Görlitz
Ruth Magang
Bafoussam (Cameroon)
Dr Stefan Meyer
District Administrator of the county of Görlitz
Dr Daniel Morgenroth
Director Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theatre Görlitz-Zittau
Christian Pawelczyk
Entrepreneur Görlitz
Katja Pietsch
Head of Corporate Communications, Görlitz Municipal Hospital
Gregor Schaaf-Schuchardt
St. Marienthal International Meeting Centre Foundation
Nathalie Schreiter
Culture and Management student, University of Zittau/Görlitz
Anja Seidel
Nursing practice instructor, Görlitz Municipal Hospital
Roger Tafam
Mayor of the city of Bafoussam (Cameroon)
Laure Teillet
Interpreter Görlitz, info@laure-teillet.de
Luca Thiel
Student “Culture and Management”, University of Zittau/Görlitz
Aurelie Tomo
Opel works Rüsselsheim
Johann Wagner
Student Görlitz
Prof Dr Karsten Wesche
Director Senckenberg Museum of Natural History, Görlitz
Eric Witte
Law clerk Görlitz
Managing Director Eva Wittig
European City of GörlitzZgorzelec