OSTKREUZ was among the few European collectives which in May were invited to Madrid for the Meeting of Euro-American Photographic Collectives (E.CO), including a symposium, a huge group display and a screening in the historic city. Afterwards we took part in a workshop in Soria and the subsequent exhibition in the town centre.
After our arrival in Madrid a driver picked us up and brought us to a nice hotel in the city centre. Three mornings we joined in round table discussions at the Spanish Ministry of Culture, discussing topics such as financing, marketing and production of self-assigned stories of collectives. In the afternoon presentations of the various collectives took place, in the course of which Linn Schröder and I spoke about the agency as well as the exhibition and book projects ›Ostzeit‹ and ’The City’. The second evening many people attended the opening of an exhibition on the subject of the environment, including Maurice Weiss’ series on the Bikini Atoll, Andrej Krementschouk’s project on Tschernobyl and my work on the nuclear power reactor in Greifswald and the Asse II pit. It took place at a former tobacco factory in the city centre, a nice location, comparable to C/O Berlin. The third and last evening of our stay in Madrid a big screening, including a selection of our ›Ostzeit‹ project, took place on a nice small square in the historical district.
The following morning a coach brought us to Soria. Having checked in at our hotel, we were invited to a welcome lunch with the mayor and took part in a meeting about the workshop and exhibition at the former main building of the Bank of Spain. We spent the following two days taking pictures during the day and preparing the prints for the exhibition in the evening. Unfortunately I had to leave a day early so that I couldn’t take part in the opening.
Taking part in the E.CO meeting in Madrid and the workshop in Soria was an inspiring experience, permitting us to establish contact with European and Latin American collectives.
Thomas Meyer
all images: © Linn Schröder/OSTKREUZ & Thomas Meyer/OSTKREUZ