CCB Magazine

Wibke Behrens: “Art is not there to present solutions”

Photo: © Lena Krause

Ever since Joseph Beuys introduced the sustainability discourse to art in 1982 with “7000 Oaks”, art and sustainability have formed a coalition - and now sustainability is increasingly becoming an obligation. How do artists deal with this? How is the pressure to become sustainable in society changing the art world and independent art? We spoke to Wibke Behrens, Managing Director of kulturwerk und bildungswerk des bbk berlins. 
 

INTERVIEW  Jens Thomas 

CCB Magazine:Hello Wibke, you have been committed to the interests of the arts in the capital for years: in 2014 you co-founded the Coalition of the Independent Scene in Berlin and were the coordinator of the nGbK for a long time - since July 2021 you have been the managing director of the bbk berlin's educational organization and since July 2024 you have also been the managing director of the bbk-kulturwerk. What do you actually have to do with sustainability? 

Wibke Behrens:Oh, the opening question is a real surprise. First of all, I have to familiarize myself with all the new ecological standards that are now required. There's so much going on right now. But if you take a broader view of the concept of sustainability and think about the social dimension, and we should do that, I've been involved in sustainability for a long time. And we want to promote both with the bbk and its subsidiaries.

CCB Magazine:Before we go into detail: What does the bbk do? 

Wibke Behrens:The bbk is the professional association for artists in Berlin. We are the single association with the largest number of members and represent the professional interests of the capital's almost 3,000 visual artists: We are committed to the structural promotion of visual artists, have had a studio rental programme at kulturwerk for 30 years, also run professionally equipped workshops such as the media workshop, sculptor's workshop or the printing workshop, which will even be 50 years old next year - and we offer further professionalization, qualification, coaching and advice at bildungswerk. Oh yes, we are also dedicated to the topic of sustainability: in 2022, we launched the workshop series “Together for sustainability. No ifs and buts” and wrote a guide of the same name. We called it a cookbook.

The bbk is the professional association for artists in Berlin. We are the individual association with the largest number of members and represent the professional interests of the capital's almost 3,000 visual artists - and since 2022, we have been increasingly focusing on the topic of sustainability: we have created a series of workshops and a cookbook to this end

CCB Magazine:What is the workshop series about? And what is the “cookbook” all about?  

Wibke Behrens: We wanted to use the series of workshops to initiate a co-creative process using design thinking methods in order to advance the topic of sustainability. This means that we didn't define sustainability as a fixed factor from the outset and decide what the final outcome should be. We said to the artists: think about something. What and who do you want to reach? Which of the UN's 17 sustainability goals do you want to work towards? The result was projects on screen printing, biochemical reactions of liquids, but above all on the topics of the common good, justice and social coexistence. Finally, we illustrated the whole thing in the guide of the same name, the cookbook. The small e-publication is called a cookbook because everything can be changed creatively by experimenting with ingredients and influencing factors - just like cooking.

CCB Magazine: Can you give some examples of exactly what you did and how you went about it?   

Wibke Behrens: One project, for example, dealt with equal rights for women in Iran. It was arranged by the artist Sabine Reinfeld, the social worker Julia Kühn from the Kolumbusschule in collaboration with the pupils from Fuchsbau, a youth facility in Reinickendorf. Ideas were collected, performed using the shadow dance to create moving images and then questions were discussed that Iranian women living here repeatedly ask themselves: Why are women still not equal? What does equality have to do with sustainability? Another group dealt with the precarious working conditions of artists. Artistic cards with messages to send out were created to highlight the precarious working conditions of artists. Overall, we had numerous collaborations for all the projects, for example with the Apartment Project Berlin, the aforementioned Haus der Jugend Fuchsbau, the GraefeKids children's leisure facility, Kolumbus-Grundschule and the Technical University of Braunschweig. A total of six artists from a wide range of disciplines took part: Selda Asal, Stephanie Hanna, Michael Fesca, Marina Sorbello, Sabine Reinfeld and Corinna Weiner. The radiance was really impressive.

Works from the bbk's “cookbook” on sustainability. Photos: Tanja Schnitzler

CCB Magazine: When reading the brochure, it is noticeable that the social issue was in the foreground. The ecological dimension is hardly mentioned. What is the reason for this? And isn't it a bit too thin to focus only on the social issue? 

Wibke Behrens: We didn't do that; ecological issues also came up again and again. But yes, the social dimension predominates. Ultimately, this has to do with the fact that we started with the reality of the artists' and participants' lives. It was also important to us that the artists did not take a solitary approach and plan and implement their concepts on their own - we wanted to create an openness that made room for a wide variety of issues. This requires courage to embrace openness and get involved.

Art exposes the weak points, art documents, holds up a mirror to society and occupies the niches. And art is all the more important at a time when divisions are increasing

CCB Magazine: What role does art play in the current sustainability discourse? 

Wibke Behrens: Art exposes the weak points, art documents, holds up a mirror to society and occupies the niches. And art is all the more important at a time when divisions are increasing. That's why we can't avoid giving art a central place in society.  

CCB Magazine: But isn't the role of art in the sustainability debate overrated? When art comments on the situation, there is no longer an outcry. Don't we rather need solutions that come from industry? Doesn't art take itself too seriously? 

Wibke Behrens: First of all, yes. Art takes itself too seriously. But that's how it has to be in order to be seen as an artist and to survive. That's why we focused primarily on sustainability goals such as “less inequality”, “health and well-being” and “high-quality education”. However, it must also be said that artists are often so enthusiastic about their own ideas that they may initially ignore ecological resources. This has to do with the fact that their wallets are often tight and they are concerned with their own livelihood. In the next step, however, many artists also often disregard their own strengths and financial resources - processes of social inequality are not limited to art, they reflect developments in society as a whole. And on the subject of industry: there is no doubt that many of today's pioneering solutions in the ecological field come from industry. But art is not there to present solutions. Art reflects, creates spaces, needs spaces. 

CCB Magazine: Berlin used to be a place of free development, a place of art far removed from economic exploitation. Now the city is becoming more and more expensive and increasingly dominated by young companies - many of which stand for a new sustainable development. Has art lost its supremacy in Berlin? 

Wibke Behrens:I wouldn't go that far. There is still the same praise for Berlin and the independent scene abroad. And rightly so! But of course the city has changed, and with it the position of the artists living here. This is precisely why we must not leave the issue of sustainability to the economy, profitability and profit maximization, nor reduce it to a business-related ecological problem. We must also ask ourselves: How sustainable is this system? How sustainable is this city as a living space? And it is precisely these questions that art can stimulate and make a decisive contribution to.

We must not leave the issue of sustainability solely to the economy, profitability and profit maximization, nor reduce it to a business-related ecological problem. We must also ask ourselves: How sustainable is this system? How sustainable is this city as a living space?

CCB Magazine:For a long time, sustainability was a counter-proposal and an outcry in society. Now it is increasingly becoming an obligation, take the new CSRD reporting obligations for companies as an example. How is the pressure to become sustainable changing the art world and independent art? Doesn't it discourage artists from joining developments that are increasingly seen as requirements?  

Wibke Behrens: That's a good question, in certain circles that will be the case. But it's also still about occupying niches. For example, I hardly know of any events anymore where artists are flown in for a lecture - because the people in question want that less and less. On the other hand, the pressure to become sustainable is clearly increasing. But not just because politicians are demanding things or pushing for sustainability through funding programs, which is very important. There is also a social need to become more sustainable - the earth is warming up and divisions in society are increasing.

CCB Magazine: What is the bbk actually doing to become more sustainable? And what else do you want to achieve in the area of sustainability? 

Wibke Behrens: We have a large paper and printing workshop and, like so many other institutions, we ask ourselves: What can we do? How can we save resources? How can we manage our own resources sustainably - and how can we become more accessible? For us, sustainability starts with green electricity, continues with recycling and inventing innovative materials and ends with the aforementioned series of workshops. And the question of space in art production is always central to us. We are currently in the process of setting up a tandem project with a participant from industry via Climate4Culture, for which we were selected, which we are very pleased about. This means that we will continue to promote the topic of sustainability. In line with our priorities and tasks as bbk berlin - I'm excited to see what we will succeed in doing. 

Category: Innovation & Vision