For almost a year, BURN-IN has been planning its US market entry together with Prof. Carl Raschke (University of Denver). This November, the time had finally come: Sonja Dolzer and Renate Polzer held 3 seminars on Creative Placemaking and Art-Branding in Denver, Dallas and Oklahoma City, comparing European and American approaches and presenting completely new and sustainable BURN-IN solutions for companies, municipalities and artists.
The art interventions on the topic of "Regional Identities" that took place as part of the events were very well received and will be shown in January 2016 in an exhibition in Theater 166 in Dallas!
The expressive picture series documents the successful seminar series, which we will continue in 2016. The original speech can be found in the attached PDF.
BURN-IN Ignite Seminars & Art-Interventions 11/2015 | an overview
- Creative Placemaking and Strategic Art Branding
Developments in the international art and communication market - the globalization of branding
Creative placemaking | the macroeconomic view
Art branding | the microeconomic view
Culture matters | the European top-down approach
Philosophy of UNESCO, EU arts and culture funding programs until 2020 | Funding 1.5 bn.€
Regional Programs | Creative Region Upper Austria
Case Studies | Linz 09, Linz City of Media Arts, AEC, Prix Ars Electronica - BURN-IN offers for companies and municipalities
The Return on Culture concept | the BURN-IN brand | the platform | the Denk- und Do-Fabrik gallery
The storytelling concept | the iceberg model
Trends in art sponsorship | the BURN-IN USP: Art Branding
CSR | Brand Values | Corporate Identity | Intangible Assets - BURN-IN offers for artists
Active development of art branding projects | BURN-IN as a navigator in process support
New exhibition format for 2016 | the gallery method | annual theme: Diversity versus Identity, Values and Culture
Presentation of the gallery portfolio and philosophy | Invitation to American artists for 2016 call (American Quarter) - Wiener Secession, Wiener Werkstätte, the Arts & Crafts movement and Bauhaus
Commonalities and new aspects related to BURN-IN
The Bilbao effect
Mass migration to Europe | the impact on Europe - BURN-IN goals for US market entry
Acquisition of companies, municipalities and artists
Acquisition of strategic partners (galleries, business consultants, investors)
International cultural and art exchange
Initiation of an international, interdisciplinary book project on creative placemaking and art branding - Art Interventions | on the Regional Identities of Denver, Dallas & Oklahoma City
Speed Creativity via Écriture automatique
Short Intervention | 40 minutes
Long Intervention | 180 minutes
Art Interventions
Bringing people together is the most important part of our art interventions. We have developed these workshopsespecially for managers who want to offer their employees a team building workshop as a strategy for developing their creative potential in order to optimize group dynamics. For our Art Intervention, we have developed a method to reflect on images, feelings and expression without being influenced by the critical "I".
Écriture automatique is one of these methods for free association. The surrealist writers used this method for their experimental literature. We modify it for our team-painting program in a kind of "blind painting" by working not only on a visual level, but also on an emotional basis.
Denver
BURN-IN offered an authentic insight into the regional identities of DENVER in a short art intervention.
Participants painted 4 canvases with oil pastel in the first layer and graphite pencils in "blind painting" for the regional drawings.
Then there were some very interesting interpretations from the participants related to "good urban energy - Colfax, the longest street in the US - circles getting bigger and bigger and airport lines". Very particular images of Denver belonging to the mountain silhouettes, the red rocks, the sunset and the cultural ideas of "5 years out" appear in these creative ideas.
We interpret the strong, detailed drawings as the life-defining Rocky Mountains of Denver and a lot of movement referring to the increasing traffic. In between, some yellow parts show the sun shining through and circles and spirals symbolize projects yet to be realized.
Dallas
BURN-IN also questioned the ideas related to regional identities in Dallas. We worked in the same technique with oil pastels and graphite pencils in "blind painting". However, the results were slightly different. We worked on 5 square canvases. The first layer in oil pastel was not applied in a drawing style, but in painted parts. The most important details were written by the participants directly onto their artwork with graphite pencils at the end of the creative process.
The main points were: Dallas Cowboys - Oil - Stars of Texas - Energy Connections and Skyscrapers. These slogans need no interpretation and, as in Denver, show a strong connection to the symbols of the region.
Oklahoma City
BURN-IN presented a three-hour workshop at the Oklahoma Art Intervention. We worked with only 2 acrylic paints as the dominant layer and printed one canvas on top of the other. Our theme was diversity. Sensitivity and empathy were important points for this intervention because parts of the painting were covered by other layers during the printing process. Not only did we print twice, but we mixed all 8 canvases, which gave us interesting results. The last part of these creative artworks were again "blind" drawings with graphite pencils.
Among the 5 participants were two artists. Their important interpretations were partly related to symbols of the tribes living in the area, e.g. wings and snails as pictorial signs of dynamism and strength. On the other hand, wind, mountains, sky and grass were interesting aspects, which were concluded by the words connection, contact and movement.
Because we only used red and blue acrylic paint, and suggested painting stripes, we thought they would choose the well-known "stars and stripes" symbols. But in the end, the stripes were not straight and there were no stars. The result was a series of 8 paintings that all referenced each other.
Interested in international formats with art and strategy?
What makes this project special
International seminar series in the USA
Three seminars in Denver, Dallas and Oklahoma City made BURN-IN visible as a driving force for art, business and cultural transformation.
Creative placemaking and art branding
The focus was on strategies for how art can sustainably strengthen identity, places and brands.
Art interventions on regional identities
The interventions developed met with great interest and were announced for an exhibition at Theater 166 in Dallas.
Broad range of topics with BURN-IN signature
From return on culture to storytelling, CSR and corporate identity to the gallery method, key BURN-IN topics were communicated internationally.
Relevance for companies, municipalities and artists
The formats were specifically geared towards different target groups and combined cultural and economic issues
Strategic basis for entering the US market
The series of seminars served the purpose of acquisition, network building, international exchange and the development of further joint projects
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