#11 Barbara Ellenberger, 2023 Landis & Gyr Stiftung Residency
50 opportunities for 50 years
“The residency enables me to ask the following questions: How do cultural institutions become ‘system change relevant?’ How do they manage to locate themselves in an ecological world and take responsibility for the survival of all living things? How do they support our journey towards an ecological future in which we enhance, amplify and multiply the pleasures for ourselves and all other life forms?”
Barbara Ellenberger worked as a chief dramaturge and theatre artistic director for 18 years before founding KlimaKontor - a Basel-based organisation that initiates participatory art projects to develop sustainable, solidarity-based and innovative responses to the climate crisis.
Barbara is one of ten recipients of the Landis & Gyr studio scholarships in London. The Landis & Gyr foundation awards studio scholarships to Swiss artists and cultural professionals in London, Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia and Zug.
Its London-based residency partnership with Acme was established in 1987, and provides three to six month long work/live opportunities for about ten Swiss artists per year.
“Without Acme, it would not have been possible to set up the LANDIS & GYR Foundation's residency programme in London. Thanks to Acme, more than 300 Swiss artists – authors, composers, curators, cultural critics, dancers, film-makers, theatre professionals and visual artists – have been able to spend an both personally and professionally inspiring, enriching and beneficial time in London over the past almost 40 years.” Nela Bunjevac, director Landis & Gyr
Barbara had positive first impressions of her studio space; “like being freshly in love, I just admire and enjoy everything: the location of the studios, the immediate neighbourhood, their architecture, their furnishings – and I thoroughly enjoy my inspiring neighbours."
“Opportunities like this are crucial. Especially at a time when fundamental questions such as the shift of the raison d'être of cultural institutions are at stake. In order to sense anew the ground on which we stand and the horizon in front of which we act, a time outside the pressure of production is particularly valuable.” Barbara Ellenberger
Barbara’s plans for her residency are to continue a research project that was started in South Africa, where she worked in collaboration with the Forgotten Angle Theater Collaborative (FATC) to further develop FATC's ‘A-Practice’ – an organisational development tool for cultural institutions seeking to take action in the face of climate catastrophe. “The stay in London will allow me to connect with cultural Institutions and activist in order to deepen the research and make its results accessible.”