ARTension: Straight forward with
...Karen Wohlert and Scott Bolden!

Das Baumhaus is a collaborative project between local and international artists, designers, creatives and active people from numerous backgrounds. Together we're acting on the little voice in our head that says, "What is it I can do to make the world a better place?" Our answer is to create a space that inspires people to come together, communicate in meaningful ways and become part of a growing culture of active engagement. One could think of das Baumhaus as an active laboratory to support the development of an urban culture which is both environmentally and socially sustainable.

We think, our idea is quite like a community garden, except instead of plants, in das Baumhaus we can grow networks of active people and sustainable ideas to fulfill shared goals. We thought: wouldn't it be great if there were more places to go where the main idea, culture and expectation is based on meeting new people to have good conversations with, finding common ground and engaging in collaborative efforts to make the world a better place. That's when we started developing a strategy to build a place in a special symbolic way that would make it functional, inspiring, groovy and fun...

So now it's about building a tree house around a big structural column in the middle of a dramatic 140m2 (1500ft2) space with high ceilings and transforming it into an inspiring and fantasy-like public space. Why a tree house? It's a cozy place built together by the people of the neighborhood where they can meet, play, imagine and create; a concept familiar to people from many cultures. Building das Baumhaus will create an evolving functional artwork open to the public will make high quality art and design intimately accessible and useable by the public.

Starting in November, local artists and neighbors will work together along with international collaborators to build the space, everyone contributing what they love to do. It's all about coming together to develop collaborative installations of ideas, art and design. The space will be built in an organic design style influenced by each collaborator's individual art, ideas and sensibilities. A decent visualization might be to imagine what a space would look like if it were a combination of elements from Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright, Lord of the Rings and Avatar all in one, inspired by aesthetics found in nature.

www.baumhausberlin.de and www.startnext.de/baumhaus

ARTension

Artension is an open platform for a critical discourse on and between artistic, scientific and other socially relevant positions. We invite guests to present their projects and discuss their subjects of interest in a public debate. We create a space for direct and intense engagement with concrete ideas, as well as a possibility for a first-hand experience, which can be meaningful for the audience.