Out & About: What exactly is the project about and why the name “RU”?
Ru Kollektiv: The RU Collective is a collaborative project. We rely on individual ideas that we try to solve together. From the idea to the concept to its implementation, with the goal to invite more people to participate. ,RU Kollektiv‘ wants to open doors for other people connected by a common interest to work together. The name RU is inspired by the Latin word ‘rupta’, which means broken free. From this root the words route in German, route, rue, roue in French and ruta, rueda (road, wheel) in Spanish are derived. This is what we want and do: to break free paths in the sign of art mediation. Encounters take place with a random audience or we visit our growing communitas on site: school classes, daycare centers, institutions and free groups – people who come together based on themes or interests.
“We are very interested in new formats of art education – we are always in discourse.”
RU was created as a final project in your bachelor’s program at HGK – How exactly did it come about?
Our final project was an experiment in collective work. We met by chance in the co-working space, with similar questions. We intuitively decided to join forces on a joint project. We started from scratch to discover the basis of our agreement: Why? What for? How?
Friendship and the motivation to make new connections brought us together.
How did you decide to work with eachother?
Sandra, Maeva and Camila were in a similar situation: new city, new colleagues, a new stage from zero. Friendship and the motivation to make new connections brought us together. – A similar motivation later brought Kim to the team.
Why did you decide to work collectively?
The decision was quite intuitive (and in accordance with the rules). We quickly found out that we are a good team, where each of us has a special strength to achieve a good result.
What were the challenges along the way?
The biggest challenge is to reach an agreement: a process we were particularly interested in. It takes time and patience to reach an agreement. It also takes energy to persuade, or wisdom to concede. We didn’t want to do a work that was divided into three parts, we wrote without signatures, everything was virtually a collaborative effort. It was difficult, but rewarding.
And what is your biggest takeaway so far?
Methodology of collective work. Balance of energies in the team – joy of working together.
What goals and concerns do you associate with art education itself?
For RU Collective, it is important to give the opportunity for dialogue and to take art out of its comfort zone. For us, art can be a tool for reflection and emancipation. We like to ask questions in order to enable joint thinking and discussions, which can be answered not only with words but also with artistic forms of expression. Coming to new answers through artistic activity is one of our credos.
What does the future hold for you?
We are in a new phase of restructuring. We want to continue working together, initiating and testing different projects. We are very interested in new formats of art education – we are always in discourse. Last but not least, we are working on remaining as a collective after the master’s program.
Interview by Catherin Schöberl