Marc Buyny travelled to Budapest
Berlin’s second artist Sarah Wenzinger travelled to Copenhagen
Artist’s Statement
I have always experienced networking on a neighbourly level, whether for political or everyday practical reasons, as particularly exciting and powerful in its own way. One particular observation was how far removed most people are from the discourses that play out in the press or on social media, and the extent to which this pace is filled with a wealth of their own exciting (to bizarre) explanatory models, focal points, and worldviews, all of which one would not encounter outside of these conversations.
There is a particular utopian potential in the coming together of these whimsical uncles and aunts from which the neighbourhood is formed. While it’s very easy to imagine each and every one of them as dictators imposing their own particular worldview on all the others, an equal and democratic interplay of all these different perspectives and characters is truly mind blowing. Seeing, on a small scale, how the different narratives can succeed in coming together gives a glimpse of how much more exciting the world can become the more people have the opportunity to help shape it.
Artist’s Biography
Marc Buyny lives in Berlin. He studied communication design at the HTW Berlin. Since then he has been working in various jobs, amongst others as an illustrator and motion designer or by selling paintings. His last projects in this field were:
– the illustration and animation of the motion comic The Density of Freedom as part of the “Mocom” project of the German Division Memorial Marienborn. The story was developed by the young project participants from conversations with GDR contemporary witnesses;
– the exhibition Barrier-free with the photographer Gisela Gürtler. The aim was to expand the photographer’s photos with suitable illustrations of the various barriers faced by those photographed.
He is currently working as a research assistant at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam on a research project about shared infrastructures in neighbourhood development. He has also worked in recent years as a ventilation fitter, as a booth salesman, in text and vaccination centres, and other part-time jobs. He is active in the referendum-campaign “Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen und Co” – which aims to socialise large housing corporations in Berlin to stop the constant rise in rents and prevent the displacement of people without much money. Since 2022 he has been studying at the FH Potsdam in the Master “Urban Future”.
More info
Artist’s website
Visual Gesture
Each artist on the residency programme was asked to create a simple visual gesture for potential inclusion in the ULYSSES European Odyssey book. An image that reflected their visit to another partner city, a moment which stayed with them, something quite simple, even symbolic.
All images are copyright of the individual artists.
