PLATFORM3 - Räume für zeitgenössische Kunst - 2009

The consolidation phase of Platform3 was
characterised by some friction between different
contexts that slowly came together: Art,
social aspects and economy. These frictions
resulted in new energies.
A first step to get things started was
renting a factory floor in Munich’s South. In
the middle of a hardly developed urban area
between the extremely rich south and in a
quirky location between bare fields, offices,
factories and flats, something new could grow.
An inner-city location would have been simply
too expensive for such a big enterprise. Cultural
wasteland was entered, easily reachable
by underground from the city centre. In the
beginning it was too far away from the locations
of art in Munich. Step by step new individuals
where involved as well as the initiators
and organisers; the factory floor was done
up by “Lernen am Bau”, a qualification program
of Wohnforum München. I joined the project as
artistic leader with the job of developing a
concept for content and organisation and providing
a profile and face. Achim Sauter, a young
art agent, joined as an intern. In autumn 2008
the artist studios were announced by an advisory
board. The members of this board are
protagonists in Munich’s cultural landscape 2 .
Besides the high quality of the artistic works,
the multi-faceted approach was important:
The ability to work in a team and the commitment
to the model of collaboration.
“The project Platform3 emphasises openness.
Because of its character it isn’t a hermetically
closed-off space. It’s special because
of its solid infrastructure and openness towards
the outside. A major part is the service agency
which organises and advises and is available
for artists at all times. It’s not an isolated art
island.”
In January 2009, in the middle of the building
site, interviews took place for cultural
managers who wanted to complete a year’s
traineeship. The building site was buzzing and
the talk was already about visions, the ideas
of young cultural managers, their imaginations
of cultural work and ways of working which
would develop into a then-imaginary space.
Bright, inviting, communicative and open is what
those rooms in a former 70s factory would become.
They would be an expression of what
was to be developed here; a new forum for
artistic work, mediation and cultural discourse,
a forum where different areas could connect
and positively support each other. A cultural
format where new things could be tested –
that relies on collaboration as well as the
precise identification of individual ideas.
“This forum is all about the dialogue of
different people and exchange on culture. It is
central as cultural production always needs
the public and is the core area in the education
of cultural managers and the sponsorship of
artists. The work happening in the context
of Platform3 needs to prove itself to the public.
Every cultural practice aims at the public.”
Continuity is important for the public perception
and the profile of a new institution as
well as a clear curatorial backbone. The latter
additionally has to take into consideration the
individuality of the cultural managers. Different
parts needed to be developed to show the
public the special nature of the project: The
program should be versatile and contain different
formats such as exhibitions, symposia,
lectures, performances and concerts and
develop co-operations and branching out.
The emphasis should be on topics which
are especially relevant in terms of sponsoring
and developing the contemporary art landscape
of Munich and that are internationally
relevant. Platform3 sees itself as a forum for
projects that aren’t firmly built into the cultural
sector institutionally.
“Our program is connected directly to topics
which are inherent with the location and
its responsibilities: responsibilities, possibilities
and visions of cultural work, questions of
cultural economy, the relationship between
local actions and global thinking, questions of
education in the area of culture, the creation
of regional and international networks.”
The character of Platform3 is shaped by
the individuals who work there. The program
is a result of the interaction between different
individuals in front of a basic canvas. Together
with me as the generator and mentor, five
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