Arts Lab 7.0: Oliwia Mieczkowska | Month V

The MARr residency with me and Eva in Ion Creangă was very chaotic but also very good. Each day we had a different number of kids and in the end only one student came as a lot of them got sick because of the bad weather outside. So we didn’t get to o all the things we had planned. But based on the feedback, they had a lot of fun with us, which is the most important. We drew a lot, we learned about the Rroma community and played a lot of energizers.

I felt good about this residency as the communication was easier as we had a few students with very good English skills. Eva and I also make a great team together, and I would love to work with her again in the future!! I felt very good working with the kids. They are very energetic and loved us from the first day. Even after the activities and after the whole residency, we still text, or they want to chat and hug when they see me in the school or outside. They are so adorable, and I love the connection we made.

I learned how well a residency can go if we as the facilitators have the motivation and if we work with students who are really interested in the things we do. Teamwork is important but so is listening to the feedback and adapting to the needs and wants of the students.

For the future, I would like to keep my spontaneous approach and add a little bit of organizing to it. I want to still be flexible but also have a plan made from the beginning, so the end feels satisfying, as we managed to work through everything I had planned. But I also want to listen more to the wants of the students.

Personal Artwork

For my personal artwork for the MARr museum, I did two make-up looks. Both inspired by the dresses of Rroma women. Salma and Mircea were my models and the results are pretty good for the situation.

I could not realize all the plans I had for this artwork as make-up is very very very expensive, and we don’t get a set budget for it. I also had to improvise because I didn’t find everything I needed. So, in those conditions, the pictures turned out good.

I felt very uninspired for the museum. I didn’t really feel creative during the whole topic of Rroma, which is sad as it's a beautiful topic. So the whole thing went halfhearted. Sadly.

I learned that sometimes you just have to push through and do what is expected of you. I also have to take matters into my own hands, which is good in matters of control.

For the future, I want to put more effort and energy into the artwork, if possible, of course. I want to start early again, so I finish on time without stress.

MARr Exhibition

The exhibition was beautiful. Eva created an amazing space, turning a white box into a professional-looking exhibition. It had a lot of information and our artworks were in between the artwork of Rroma artists. The interactive part was in the hallway and made into a game.

The kids were very motivated to win the game, but not so dedicated to the actual artwork and the meaning behind them. It was sad for us as artists, but they had fun. Which is the most important.

I learned to just go with the flow and not stick strictly to the rules we set up in the beginning. Also, that the exhibition is not for us, it's for the community.

In the future I would love to have an exhibition this beautiful again. I would love to have as many participating kids and have fun with them.

Emotions residency

Annalisa and I are doing the residency together this time. The plan for where we would be, changed a lot, but in the end we ended up in a small class in Ion Cranga. The students are in 8th grade, are very quiet and creative. They started to open up more and more each day. We did a lot of reflecting, talking, but they were the most interested in art. So we did collages, mood boards, clay, and drawing.

I felt unsure about this residency as the topic is very big and important, but in the end i feel very satisfied. The students were so nice, motivated, creative and just happy to be there. I loved having each day filled with something new that Annalisa and I had planned. I felt grateful for Mircea being there to translate and help in general. On such a sensitive topic, it's good that the kids can speak their first language and not make it even harder and make them speak in English.

I found out how to plan a good residency. The experience from the past helped a lot, but also the class we got was very good to work with.

In the future, I would love to plan ahead more and adapt to the kids' moods in the day. If they feel energetic, then we move more. If they are more relaxed, we do handcraft.

Language Lessons

Ștefan and I really started on the Romanian lessons. I was so motivated to learn to win the trip for me and also for him. It was going very well. Unfortunately, the others always saw the lessons, realized how good Ștefan is as a teacher and got jealous :(

Now we have common lessons with Ștefan and my motivation is dead. Having a good teacher was my only advantage that gave me hope for winning. Now that that is gone, my hope of winning the trip is as well lol.

But I still learned a bit to communicate in Romanian, and I'm very grateful for that.

For the future I will hide away from everyone (obviously I'm joking, I love that everyone is learning now, I’m just sad :( )

Cultural nights, Turkish and Portuguese

We had two cultural nights in the past month. Both of them were AMAZING and so much fun. I love how other people are interested and participate. I love to learn new things about their cultures and traditions. I am very nervous about my own cultural night though. I don’t feel like Germany has as much culture to present lol. But I want to show a bit of Germany as I always stuck to Poland when it came to culture.

We will see how the future will be!

This monthly report was written by Oliwia Mieczkowska, our Polish/German volunteer taking part in a seven-month Arts Lab 7.0 mobility, co-funded by the European Union under the European Solidarity Corps.