Healing Complex: Summit – A day of conversations and sauna

Initiated and realized by Irena Haiduk and Urbane Künste Ruhr under the artistic direction of Britta Peters, the Healing Complex (2018–ongoing) has been open to the public since June 3, 2022, in Gelsenkirchen-Erle. At the center of this work, developed specifically for the Ruhr region, is a communal multi-purpose oven powering a public bakery and a forthcoming sauna area, a nourishing and warm place in line with methods used to heal and restore natural habitats in this former industrial region. Healing Complex is supported by an economy of labor exchange free of traditional means of money-based transactions. The economic concept in the Healing Complex includes engraved furniture by Irena Haiduk, used for on-site frottage, as well as a wide range of workshop activities.
At the Summit, we’d like to work with attendees, invited artists and experts to envision the function(s) of community spaces and learn from each other with a view to other projects. While the wood-fired saunas outside on the forecourt spread a welcoming warmth, inside the Healing Complex, we present a variety of linked projects that tackle spa and cleansing culture and issues of communal living and shared resources: how can public spaces be used in a way that meets the needs of those who use them? Can we practise the sharing of work and expertise in a collaborative way? How can art contribute? In addition to many short project presentations and a closing event with discussion and music, the film screening Reinigungsrituale und andere Flüsse (Purification Rituals and other Rivers), where two new films on the Emscherkunstweg will be shown, creates a direct link to the subject matter and the region.
We invite you to gather, help shape the day's events, relax in the sauna and celebrate a pleasant Healing Complex closing event. In March 2023, we’ll move ahead with new ideas for the location – we’d love for you to join us.

Programme:

11 am – Warm up
Inside the Healing Complex, attendees can help design creative tiles, bake bread and other treats, and have a chat over a hot drink. There are two mobile saunas in the forecourt that are available for use once they’ve warmed up.

1 pm – Keynote talks and project presentations
Inside the Healing Complex, guest speakers present a variety of linked projects that tackle spa and cleansing culture and issues of communal living and shared resources. Samia Abed and Sajida Al Shikan from kitev (Kultur im Turm e.V.) in Oberhausen present their community-based work and projects Refugees’ Kitchen and GENAU – GEmeinsam Neu Aufbauen, which allow people who are usually prevented by circumstances from getting involved in society and public life to actively participate. Florine Lindner, project manager at E-WERK Luckenwalde, introduces the project Performance Electrics, a non-profit energy generator providing power for the arts, and the challenges of presenting a contemporary exhibition programme for a wide audience in rural areas. Freelance project manager Florian Tampe is interested in how people bring places to life, asks questions about shame and brings saunas into the public space through a variety of projects. His latest SusiSauna is available to try at Summit. With the project SOUNA|Let’s Come Home a Little Different, the artists Kollektiv RISS and Golden Diskó Ship have joined forces. The SOUNA ritual interprets sauna culture as an inclusive, queer, feminist safe space where all bodies, genders and identities are welcome. At Healing Complex: Summit, artists introduce the project in a presentation with a documentary retrospective and performative style.

4 pm – Reinigungsrituale und andere Flüsse
Screening of two new films on the Emscherkunstweg by Ani Schulze and Alina Schmuch. After the showings, the artists will speak to Marijke Lukowicz, curator for the Emscherkunstweg at Urbane Künste Ruhr.

6 pm – Closing discussion and cookery session
To round off the event, speakers and attendees come together for a closing discussion. Tim Voss, who navigates artistic and sociocultural contexts with Full Mouth – a mobile cookery and talk show – chats, presents and cooks with the guests.

8 pm – DJ set by Nikity and Anna Cainelli (E.P.I.Q. DJ Collective)

With Samia Abed, Sajida Al Shikan, E.P.I.Q., Irena Haiduk, Florine Lindner, Marijke Lukowicz, Britta Peters, Kollektiv RISS and Golden Diskó Ship, Alina Schmuch, Ani Schulze, Florian Tampe, Tim Voss and other guests