SchmiedeY 2017 – Tanja Kristan

Ideas, Media, Art and a ton of people.

Schmiede is a Media/Idea/Art Festival full of nice artworks and awesome people. It was my third year that I attended it and for sure not my last one. These ten days in autumn are something I keep looking forward to my whole year. For me it always feels like it’s over way too fast. These environment always feels like a big creative family, that I want to be there my whole year. And so I feel like this again and again, also a bit sad when it’s time for leaving. I really did much stuff this year, but take a look for yourself.

My projects for this year were: developing a street game with Leonore Liebich and Katrin Schäfer; singing in the Schmiede choir; organizing a Smith Animation Screening with Eni Brandner; doing a pregnant belly animation with Jana Türlich and the help of Leo again and her boyfriend Martin Scheuchenstuhl; making another short animation just by myself and organizing a short film screening programm in a self built teahouse built from Gerhard Feldbacher for Werkschau. Like the years before, 2015 and 2016, it seems that my projects got even more. This year I even took photos so that you can have a little peak into my most favourite place in the world, even if it just exists for 10 days.

My camera is a old a bit broken one, but despite that there were some nice photos. Of course I did take way more, but this is my little selection of the good ones, that I liked the most. I also filmed a bit and maybe I will make a short little Schmiede Werkschautrailer, just for fun. At the end of this blog entry there are also some Werkschau pictures… just artworks and this is the keyword to start with a little explanation of my own works of SchmiedeY. A very productive year and hopefully that productive part is not over yet.

Schmiede Y Works

I will start with our street game. It’s called “Fight for your time!” and you play it in two or more groups. Each group is from a different era and just landed by accident in our time. The science fond don’t have enough money to repair the time machine and callibrate it for each time period. So only one team can return to their time, the one that solves the given challenges to repair the time machine the fastest. To make things easier we designed team cards, yellow challenge cards and purple explanation cards for our game master, the time machine professor. We testet it several times and I think I want to improve it even after Schmiede. Thanks to the people who helped us to finetune the game. Katrin Schäfer had to leave Schmiede early on Sunday, but she was a great help and without her and Leo I don’t think there would be this project.

The next project was the Schmiede Gesangsverein, our own choir. I really liked it… despite knowing that I am just an amateur, Anna Schauberger was so amazing as our choir director. I am still no professional, never will be , but it was really nice to improve, learn songs, train the own voice and do something together as a group. We had some really great people in the choir… I was just the shy quiet one, giving my best to strike the right note and get the timing right.

I really had a great time so a big shoutout to Anna, thank you very much and to all my colleagues. It was an amazing experience, especially after Eni’s choir related project last year, where she used my rough Stop Motion Puppets. Last year I was to shy to join the choir, just admired it from far, but this year I can say it. It was worth it! I hope you couldn’t hear my mistakes too much, just the stuff that was right.

And yeah, that’s were I want to introduce you to Smith’s Animated. Eni and I talked about it last year and so we just tried it out this year a own Smith related Animation Screening.

We both were curious what we would get, if we would get anything at all and then suddenly we had a programm and everything worked out. I want to thank all the awesome animation contributers and also thanks to the people who had time to sit down on a Wednesday Night and watch our programm. It was my first time organising something like this, but it was not my last and I think Schmiede was the perfect place to just try it out. Thank you Eni, that you were there with me.

The next project was an animation for Jana and her little girl Lucy. Jana came to me with an idea and we did our best to realize it. I asked Leo for help and her boyfriend was so friendly to switch in when I had to go to choir rehearse.

I blurred Jana’s Face because I still have to talk with her if this will stay a private project. Somehow this short project was my favorite this year. I met Jana last year, because we were sleeping in the same Camper during Schmiede and then suddenly she was pregnant this year. It would be a big surprise if there wasn’t something like facebook, but she was so shiny at the first day. A smile from one end of her face to the other side, so it was a great honour to work on this project. It was a bit exhausting for her, but I think it was worth it. A memory, that you will never forget. It was screened at the Werkschau, the show at the end of Schmiede, where you could watch all these amazing projects. The Screening was in an awesome self-built teahouse.

But before I show you some photos of it, here a frame of my last little animation. Yeah, it’s a weird experimental Stop Motion Movie. This year I really wanted to make an animation with the Schmiede building… and I kinda did it. I wouldn’t call it a finished work, but it’s the start of an idea and that’s what Schmiede is for me, the start of an idea and tons of people to work with, relax and celebrate this awesome environment.
I uploaded the Werkschau Version, but like I wrote it is still a Work in Progress Piece. I can even image to mix photos from next year with the ones from this one, but I will see. It’s a starting point and nothing more, even if it’s a really obvious project I would really like to mix different Schmiede years all together. So maybe this is the start of a project, that will go on for years or if I forget it then it will just stay like this. Have fun and take a look.

Schmiede Hallein Animation from Tanja Kris on Vimeo.

So yeah, I am coming to an end, at least with the projects. I was looking for a beamer for the last exhibition, Werkschau, and then Gerhard Feldbacher told me that it would be possible to screen stuff in his self built teahouse. So I looked for people who wanted to screen there, organised a beamer through magic… okay… it was more something like lucky coincidence, Rosi Grillmair and Heikowsky Neumann were involved and stuff. And bäm, it looked amazing!

Here you can see a screen from Jan Gottwald’s film and some jellyfishes from Eva Thu Trang in the awesome teahouse inside out. You could even drink tea inside and watch the visuals/films. It was a place of peace and looked really amazing. I missed the Opening Ceremony of Werkschau, but this little place of peace was really something I needed after all the stuff going on for these ten days. It was just like the years before a oasis of creativity and playfulness.

I also have some photos from other artworks-installations-performances-games-etc from the Werkschau for you. Just a little selection of my best photos. Take a look, enjoy and maybe visit Schmiede Werkschau next year. There is always new stuff going on! – http://schmiede.ca/