“The social meets art and culture” is entering its fifth year running. This year’s H-TEAM Künstlerpreis (themed “Messies”) will be handed down to seven artists at the H-TEAM e.V. building on the 20th of June from 7pm. Patron and president of the Paul-Klinger-Künstler-Sozialwerk e.V. Gerhard Schmitt-Thielis given the honour of hosting the gallery openingand following awards ceremony. The H-TEAM e.V. opened up their call for submissions in December the previous year, asking for artistic interpretations of the condition known as compulsive hoarding. The contest was free for all: those affected and the people around them, artists or simply anyone who could relate to the matter. All in all, 99 creatives from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the US were sent in an grand total of 119 pieces. Among those, 14 contestants have chosen to work in a variety of media. Art forms represented span across painting, photography, spoken word, poetry, short stories, comic strips, short films and music. The jury consisting of Dr. Bärbel Kopplin, (curator of the Hypo-Vereinsbank collection Memberof UniCredit), Dr. Elmar Zorn (curator), Anita Keller (director of Paul- Klinger-Sozialwerk e.V.), Peter Peschel (director of H-TEAM e.V.), Sandra Zeman (BA Communication Design) inspected and rated every single piece individually.When asked how to bridge the gap between compulsive hoarding and art, Dr. Elmar Zorn replied: “Many methodologies in art, like for instance, the unrestrained collecting and keeping of memories and materials are quite similar to those behaviours of compulsive hoarders. Actually,they have a lot more in common than you might think. There’s a compulsive hoarder in every one of us, in every artist, in every beholder and in every curator.” You can find “Freak” among the winners, a sculpture which looks like a bizarre monster, measuring165 cm high and 150 cm wide, a construct of wires and plastic bags. Approaching the creature and looking through its gaping mouth allows you to see the “inner” being inside, which stands in contrast with its outer shell. “In a manner of speaking, compulsive hoarders are society’s new freaks, both fascinating and appalling. The media treats them in a manner comparable to theway disabled people were shamed on funfairs and freak shows in the past. Generally, the person behind the disorder does not matter. The strips of plastic bag are a reference to the compulsive hoarder within. Plastic bags- the by-products of modern man’s consumption habits can be found accumulating in absurd amounts throughout every common household”, says artist Naomi Lawrence. First prize went to Fara Phoebe Zetsche, a photographer from Berlin. Since 2009, Zetsche attends a family suffering from compulsive hoarding disorder. “The local youth welfare office is incapable to deal with the situation appropriately, as they lack the understanding that ordering them to tidy up the place is not going to help” says Zetsche. “It hasn’t been a simple task for the jury, in fact, it turned out to be challenging.”, says H-TEAM’s Torsten Sowa. “In my opinion, all of the submissions would have deserved to be given a prize respectively.”, says juror Peschel. “I admire every single one of them, for their creativity and rich variety of ways in which they engaged with the challenging brief. ”, he proceeds. On June20th, the seven winners will receive their reward from the jury as part of the gallery opening.Patron Gerhard Schmitt-Thiel will be hosting the event. The submissions will be available to view and acquire at the H-TEAM e.V. building, starting from the end of the show until August later this year. A gallery catalog is obtainable for a small donation. One particular goal of this event is to raise social awareness through art and culture. We aim to introduce more people to the lives of those who are affected by poverty and social exclusion. Standing by our beliefs, we hope to contribute to the abolition of misinformed attitudes and preconceptions towards those deemed strange and different. Using art and culture we want the different social groups to get in touch and explore the conditions for a solidary coexistence. H-TEAM e.V. offers an extensive network of services providing help where sickness, accident and other events pushed people towards the edge of society.
Contact:
H-TEAM e.V.
Torsten Sowa, Public Relations
Plinganserstraße 19, 81369 Munich/ Germany
Tel. 089/7473620, Fax 089/7470663
E-Mail: sowa@h-team-ev.de