"Visions are the University archives of the future", the aphorist Thom Renzie once said. And Görlitz has them, the "visions of the future". Since 2007, a contemporary art festival has been taking place under this name, which draws attention to the vacant buildings in Görlitz and at the same time to the potential of these untapped treasures. There have also been references to this here on our blog from time to time.

The ZuVi is largely organized by the students from the culture and management department (the KuMas), including Lotti, who I interviewed with her team colleague about their visions for the future. She and Enrico are part of the ZuVi 2021 organizing team and tell me what excites them about the festival - because: Everyone involved is working on a purely voluntary basis.

According to Enrico, the festival originally came about as a surprise gag:

"At the very beginning, there is said to have been a birthday party where someone occupied an empty building for a surprise party. Apparently it went down well and the students then made it more and more professional. But now it's not just students on the team, half of the helpers are professionals like me."

For Lotti, ZuVi was a welcome refuge in the "real world" when the corona measures paralyzed most of public life and university could only be attended via PC:

"I was quite bored of studying online at some point, to be honest, so I wanted to be a bit active away from my studies in Görlitz. And through the ZuVi team, you immediately come into contact with the Görlitz scene, the people here, especially the city's creative artists. It's great to see how everyone pulls together and helps each other. Rabryka has just lent us tools again, Basta is supporting us with building materials and we had a free storage room in the cold store."

Enrico is one of the non-external helpers in the team. He studied mechanical engineering, finished his training a long time ago and came to ZuVi through friends and his manual skills. He was so enthusiastic about the idea of the festival that he has now been part of the project team for the second year:

"There are basically 3 population groups here in Görlitz: pensioners, normal people and students. And they all come together at this festival, which I find incredibly exciting. I also think it's a great added value for the city that the vacant buildings are being revitalized, at least for a short time, to show what is available here in terms of building fabric."

This year, the ZuVi team consists of 24 helpers in total. Lotti and Enrico are part of the working groups in which Enrico has already gained experience from the previous year:

"We are mainly responsible for logistics - lovely logistics (laughs) - by the way, the coolest group ever! We take care of how we get electricity, how we get water...the art group imagines beautiful things and then we are there to implement them. But sometimes you just have to say: friends, nice idea, but unfortunately it's not going to happen. You're a bit of a realist among dreamers, so to speak."

Organizational work is a great opportunity for cultural management students like Lotti to put the theory they have learned into practice and gain their own experience:

"We are always in contact with many public bodies in Görlitz, the municipal utilities, for example, or the building authority, most of whom already know us from previous years. For us KuMas, this is also a valuable insight into practice: how does a festival like this actually work, what does it all take..."

But Lotti and Enrico agree that the effort will be worth it in the end. This year's ZuVi is being held in an old school in the Weinhübel district under the motto "Ohne Gewähr - no Guarantees" and features exhibits from all over the world, including Mexico and Canada. As always, the exhibition will be accompanied by a "rich supporting program" (in Enrico's own words) in the form of concerts, parties and art education workshops. Enrico has one more request:

"We definitely want to draw attention to our crowdfunding campaign! Due to Corona, many funding pots have disappeared and that's why we are particularly dependent on the support of the people of Görlitz this year. Depending on how much you donate, you can get a personalized cocktail, a tattoo or even a candlelight dinner in the exhibition...so it's worth it!"