This is a story about a journey, in contemporary times, in the time of the migration of peoples, from east to west, from north to south. It is an article about powerful places, powerful people, powerful works. It is a story about a journey out of the comfort zone, a journey of reflection, a journey of contemplation.

The pictures were taken in a mystical region in Germany called the Harz. A mountain range rises southeast of Berlin, like half a pebble that has no connection to other formations, a geological oddity, strange like its people and its history.

Terra Ritterberg is such a magical place there. Founded and inhabited by Tatjana, a place of dragons, witches and magicians, a place on the edge of the forest, with horses, chickens, donkeys, pigs and quails.

The Bode valley in Thale is also a magical place. It seems to have attracted a number of other creative people in addition to Goethe.

And there is also the eco-garden in Quedlinburg. There, too, we found ideas for projects and technical solutions for your own social space in the art camp.

Normally we only publish photos and articles on this website that deal with events and stories that have happened recently around Familiafeliz. This means that these posts always follow the events, and are therefore historical. We do this on purpose. We don’t want to publish what we would like, what we wanted to do, what could be done. We want to keep showing what we have done. The “we” is not constant, there are always new groups that emerge due to high fluctuation. Familiafeliz is an open, inclusive project, not an exclusive one.

This post is therefore an exception. And there is a good reason for that too.

The history of humankind is closely linked to the history of its technical innovation. This may always have been driven by personal creativity and the urge to explore, but it is also a question of communication. Part of the old apprenticeship training of journeymen was travel, and the journey-men’s years of travel were a safe investment in their training. They transported knowledge to and from a certain destination. What did Goethe say, not in Thale, but at some point in Italy: Travel educates.

As a contemporary artist, it is also important to me to regularly move far away from my workspace in order to enjoy new ideas and impressions. The power of creativity can be felt everywhere and it is good to expose yourself to it. This sharpens your eye for the quality of your work and it also triggers your own imagination. After just a short time, interesting aspects for your own work emerge and at the end of a trip you are full of ideas that you would like to implement.

Such a journey took place in the summer of 2024. But it was also a journey to myself. It was also a journey out of my own comfort zone. That is also something I always strive for. Leaving once own echo chamber is not so easy. You have to be prepared to expose yourself to those who think differently, who have different priorities.

The division that is constantly being driven forward in society is also achieved by turning people against each other. In doing so, factual arguments and dialogue are avoided. In newspeak, the aim is to directly destroy the other person’s reputation. This makes it very easy to disqualify the other person and then it is no longer necessary to deal objectively with the other opinion. When I go on such a trip, I also expose myself to the other person, but I don’t make it so easy for myself. I prefer to assume that the arguments of those who think differently can help me to rethink, question, verify and, if necessary, improve my own position.

During the Corona period, I once asked critically whether the truth would become a lie if it was transmitted by a – well-known – liar. The person who thinks differently in the dialogue will probably pick up on the weaknesses in my argument and that is why I am doing a good thing by becoming an under-stander, and it should not affect me much if “under-stander” is discredited as a swear word.

I would describe myself as not very spiritual. I don’t spend much time with the things that people who describe themselves as spiritual do. So when I step out of my comfort zone, it becomes clear that I approach these people and listen. I associate this with the desire and hope to understand and learn. Whether I succeed is an open question. But it certainly makes it possible to test the extent to which communication is possible beyond the limits of simple understanding.

People in other parts of the world do things differently. I have taken a closer look at the objects and representations of their actions. There is also a strong attraction and it stimulates the imagination. Familiafeliz is a community whose goal is unknown, which has no agenda and, like Cecosesola in Venezuela, moves forward without meaning or purpose. That does not mean that the individuals who make up this community do not have clear goals, but it is not a movement of the community but the sum of the movements of the individuals.

Tatjana from the location Ritterberg has an agenda, a very precise idea of ​​how she wants to live and what her priorities are. Her statements are clear, understandable, and comprehensible. She is looking for people to join in. She is looking for people who want to commit to an idea and devote themselves to it. She comes up with the idea and, in the best case scenario, she can implement this idea without much friction. But she needs people who are looking for meaning and leadership.

The eco-garden is a place of learning and teaching for topics such as permaculture, gardening, fauna and flora, but also as a backdrop for a theater workshop, and is supported by people with an idea. They want to convey to new generations what they believe is right and they want to make their content tangible. The eco-garden is located in Quedlinburg, a city with history. Pizza oven, petting zoo, fire pits, table football, wooden boats, stalls, vegetable gardens. This place is maintained by tax money and parents pay a fee for special activities, as part of school visits or workshops during the holidays.

The Bode valley is now fully developed for tourism. A huge car park with a day pass and digital parking card welcomes visitors, and then intercepts them on the way to Goethe’s Rock, through snack bars, chair lifts, amusement parks and more. Nature’s gift was probably first used in the iron industry, then later it was intended to provide the region with overnight accommodation and day tourists. Anyone who leaves all that behind and continues hiking can discover pristine nature every now and then and also finds a moment to be alone with himselve and his thoughts.

Contemporary wooden sculptures meet technical solutions from a bygone era of industrial culture, high-tech and digital meet smoke ovens and bread bakeries. Everything mixes together and children always find places where they can put their feet in the cold water.

What connects all these places with an art camp in Spain? What ideas can we take away, beyond the park guidance system? What is innovative and can be implemented even in a remote location in the south of Spain?

As I write these lines, I am still in the mode of collecting, listening, looking and understanding. I cannot answer these questions yet and that is a good thing. They will not be answered here and not by me either. They are inextricably linked to the people who, on the one hand, read this article and, on the other hand, find their way to the Familiafeliz art camp and are inspired by these pictures and stories.

The motivation for this article comes from the knowledge of diversity and humility towards those who think differently, who do things completely differently than you do. If Familiafeliz is a social attempt to get people to organize themselves beyond money, or at least to create a space for it, then perhaps there is no need for a digital parking guidance system. But the place of staying together keeps cropping up, the place where meals are prepared keeps cropping up. And that is also a crystallization point of community.

Familiafeliz is a community that is constantly being recreated through the decision of individuals to do something together. Community is not an end in itself. Community is a byproduct, something that arises from the fact that people agree to do something together. A shared meal is not far from that.

On one of my trips to Romania, I was deeply moved by the construction work on a monastery. In the 21st century, the farmers of the village ran up to the monastery building singing, worked two extra hours every evening to build the monastery – for God’s sake – and were then invited by the monks to a warm meal together. The shared meal is a place of social interaction.

If you visit the art camp in the future, you might find artifacts like those in these photos. Maybe you’ll find places where people gather, eat together, or preserve food. Maybe this post will help to show that it wasn’t just the work of people who wanted to donate this work to this place, but that there’s a story to be discovered behind it that goes far beyond the boundaries of this art camp in Spain.

We are all stardust. And yet we only ever come to selected representations, inside and out. The pattern that covers everything is strong. And it is driven by the will not to remain alone. And so the work speaks to the viewer again and again. And it should point out where it came from… even if it can only be a hint.

The newcomers have already immortalized themselves in the garden. They have already redesigned a lot. Now we’ll see what dynamics this will trigger. We’re continuing to build the social space.