OSTRALE: City Council commissions administration with negotiations
The City Council has commissioned the administration to clarify the contractual, spatial and financial requirements for the OSTRALE - Biennale for Contemporary Art - in Chemnitz with the involvement of Chemnitz's cultural professionals and to conduct the necessary negotiations. If agreement is reached on the conditions, the key points of the envisaged contract will be presented to the City Council in autumn 2018.
The OSTRALE is recognised as an outstanding project for the promotion of complex forms of expression in contemporary art. It offers formats as a breeding ground for art productions, presentations and interaction in an international context. In the roughly ten years of its existence, the OSTRALE has developed a projection surface that thematises, justifies and sustainably underpins the relevance of contemporary art, now, here and elsewhere.
Due to the cancellation of the existing rental contract in Dresden, the makers of the OSTRALE are looking for a new location in Saxony. The fact that Chemnitz offers space for creativity and development and could be a suitable location for the OSTRALE was also recognised and signalled by its organisers. Several locations in the city of Chemnitz could be considered as suitable venues, e.g. brownfield sites along Altchemnitzer Straße and Zwickauer Straße, but these will have to be examined over the coming months.
The city of Chemnitz also has a great interest in keeping the OSTRALE in Saxony with a location in Chemnitz. Initial joint talks have therefore taken place and a letter of intent has been drawn up. It provides for a basic agreement with a term of at least ten years and the integration of the OSTRALE into the city's marketing and cultural strategy. These conditions are part of the basic agreement, which the city council must approve in the autumn following successful negotiations. In addition, the possibility of granting fixed administrative costs of up to EUR 250,000 per year, independent of the event, has been announced.
Formats such as the OSTRALE are potential drivers and catalysers of cultural life in the field of contemporary art, participation and cultural education in a city. They can set accents and help to redefine neighbourhoods. The wide-ranging commitment of the format offers the opportunity for players in urban, regional and European cultural life to strengthen or further develop their various modes of action.
Networking and communication on a European level and with the world, the involvement of urban actors and the strengthening of co-operation are just some of the offers that event formats such as the OSTRALE provide for a municipality.