Thistlegrave – How collaborative work across continents is transforming contemporary art and its artifacts
## The Ghost Town That Could Change Everything: Thistlegrave’s Radical Legacy Resurfaces In the annals of American history, some towns fade quietly. Others are violently erased. Thistlegrave, Florida – founded in 1812, vanished by 1929, and deliberately scrubbed from memory – belongs firmly in the latter category. Its rediscovery, sparked by enigmatic installations from contemporary artist Amber Scribble, isn’t merely an archaeological curiosity. It threatens to detonate a bomb under contemporary political discourse, offering a radical blueprint forged in fire and forgotten. ### The Thistlegrave Experiment: Democracy Unbound Thistlegrave wasn’t governed; it *lived* democracy. Forget representative politics. Once a year, every citizen gathered in a plenary assembly. Here, the collective made every binding decision: setting laws, approving public projects funded *entirely* by voluntary citizen donations, and appointing an executive staff and mayor for a strict 12-month term. Crucially, **no one in these roles received payment**. Governance was a civic duty,…
#BUENAVISTACERVERA – Cervera del Maestre – The City of Art
Geography is destiny. – Juan Petry The town of Cervera del Maestre is located in the north of the province of Castellon in Spain. It borders the Catalan province of Tarragona. In a particularly fateful way, it also has cultural and historical ties to Catalonia. Poor people from Cervera near Igualada were invited to build the town after the expulsion of the Moors. In return, they were promised work, land, and property. A few courageous families followed this call. For many years, the spirit of these pioneers has been preserved in village life. Outstanding people from this community have repeatedly emerged: scientists, artists, and entrepreneurs. Cervera has also repeatedly shaped the region. It lies between the interior, with its important towns of Sant Mateo and Morella, and the coastline with Vinaros, Benicarlo, and Peniscola. Cervera del Maestre has a very special connection to the movement of people and has often…
Dancing with the Dragon – CASAdelDRAGON – Spain
Jump to Special events For almost 20 years, CASAdelDRAGON, an artist residence, think tank, and laboratory for international contemporary art, has been showcasing artists from all over the world. Without public funding, without an art association to divert public subsidies, without patrons, and without regional businesses and institutions that claim to promote culture, this house has remained open all these years. Time and again, artists have sought this extraordinary opportunity to showcase their works in the over 700-year-old natural stone building; time and again, culture enthusiasts have discovered this space; time and again, creative people of all ages have gathered to fill the spaces with literature, dance, music, theater, performance art, and contemporary art. The house attracted visitors like a magnet and became an integral part of the regional art scene. Without donations or refinancing, the project was and continues to be supported by private donations. While terror, war, destruction,…
A deep dive into other worlds – expo museum Tortosa
In June 2025, we opened the exhibition “altres mons – other worlds” at the Museo del Ebre in Tortosa. The focus was on the works of Catalan artist Sonia Eva Domenech, particularly her series of circles. Drawing on symbolism and using abstract painting techniques, the artist creates space for the viewer and their thoughts and feelings. Domenech’s art is to make concrete proposals through color, structure, and geometry, without dictating or otherwise limiting the viewer’s imagination. Domenech developed and realized many of these works during her time at CASAdelDRAGON. She lived there with Juan Petry, a Spanish-German artist who has been opening his home to creatives from all over the world for almost 40 years. Consequently, Domenech invited Petry to participate in this exhibition with his current project #buenavistacervera. This artist invites people to join him in workshops to create benches from recycled pallet wood. Each bench offers the opportunity…
#BUENAVISTACERVERA – Banco de semillas
Catalan – English La concentració de proveïdors de llavors progressa a tot el món. Els lobbistes estan canviant les normes legals al seu favor. Tot passa en públic, embolicat en fantasies com la protecció de la salut, la protecció dels clients i la conservació de les espècies. Deixant de banda les matemàtiques, la ciència només pot demostrar allò que és fals i s’hauria de descartar com una teoria. Tot i això, la ciència continua permetent-se que es prostitueixi. Seguiu els diners. Encara no és il·legal fer circular llavors amb finalitats ornamentals gratuïtament. Els ocells no fan res més. El vent, fins i tot manipulat, ajuda. La contaminació durant el transport d’aliments porta llavors a llocs on ni tan sols s’havia pensat. El que queda és l’exploració artística d’un fenomen. Com a humans, gaudim del plaer. Pel que recordem, sabem que això també té alguna cosa a veure amb les plantes.…
The Oracle of Delphi – future on request
How to use it? How to mount it? When setting up the bench, make sure that the labyrinth is leveled. This is what the calibration is for. The chain must hang exactly in the middle of the crosshairs. The feet can be finely adjusted using a wrench. To do this, use the outer screws first. The screws on the middle feet are only used to distribute the load and should be adjusted after adjustment so that they just touch the floor. If the floor is sensitive, the bench should always be placed on cardboard discs or beer mats. If the bench has to be moved for some reason, it must be finely adjusted before it is used again. The story behind… #buenavistacervera is a social art project. People are invited to workshops to build benches and other furniture for public spaces together. The objects invite social interaction. This makes the…
GAME B – beyond the matrix
GameA is the description for the current world and its civilization. GameB names the other, the better, the evolutionary different. The classic game as a civilization companion of mankind then probably belongs to GameA. It is characterized by the setting of the playing field, game objective, rules of the game and the course of the game.This GameB goes beyond that. There are no limits to the number of players, the playing fields, the moves, the rules of the game or the possible course of the game. If you discover one of the #buenavistacervera benches in a public space or museum or in an exhibition hall, maybe you will find a bench which invites you to play. The Game B – benches are dedicated to the social interaction of playing games. In a first trial you might use a given rule-set but you should go beyond and create your own rules.…
ACT
It is essential to give back to the community that supports you. Each of my artworks is embedded in social ties, aiming to create a meaningful impact on those around me. There is no need for a commission when the intention is genuine. The first and most valuable return on investment is the gratitude that comes from witnessing the process of discovery. As Ai Weiwei puts it, “My favorite word? It’s act.” Action is fundamental to creation. Social sculpture demands a strong concept, thoughtful planning, and powerful execution. Power controls through fear, and fear is politics. By offering pleasure, joy, and knowledge, artists disrupt established power, placing themselves at the heart of politics. Contemporary art’s ongoing task is to challenge existing conditions, and resistance—whether through headwinds, exclusion, or rejection—signals that this engagement is meaningful. I echo Tania Bruguera’s words: “Feeling good is not enough: Create a political moment.” Social sculpture…
The act of St. Laurence
Even in capitalist systems, there are inalienable rights for the arts. One of these rights is the right to authorship. Who created the work, who painted or copied it, and if so, did they respect this inalienable right and properly identify the source. In photography, proof of authorship used to be possession of film, negative or slide. Today it is often the digital data set, outcropped in the highest resolution. When a photographer refers to his career and experience, he is actually referring to his archive. That is his greatest treasure, that is the foundation of his authorship. In the digital age – which will certainly also pass – analogue film is already considered old-fashioned and antiquated. Nevertheless, it still stores far more pixels per inch than modern digital cameras. The advantage lies in its easy availability and handling, not in its quality. The idea of keeping the analogue for…
U-HAFT QUEDLINGBURG – Backstage
This is the story behind the story behind a series for the international social art project ARTSURPRISE.EU. It is the story of a prison, the story of two men (both hero’s for me), working voluntarily as guides for this place, the story of the making-of of the series and the story of rejecting an offer to use contemporary art to rise more attention for this location and the people behind. I dedicate this series to my father. The 6th of October 2024 was his birthday (88 years). And what connects him to this series is his never ending love for people. Thank you for that. At all times people have done evil to other people. Many people were imprisoned innocently. So-called republic refugees were also imprisoned in the prison in Quedlinburg. These were people who simply wanted to leave the country (back then the German Democratic Republic GDR). In the…