DIANA WESSER *1970 in Stuttgart, lives in Leipzig, Germany
Education 2005 Postgraduate in the master class of Prof. D‘Urbano, Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig 2001 Master of Fine Arts (Diploma Degree), Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig 1994 – 2001 Studies of Media Arts & Illustration, Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig 1990 – 1987 Education Graphic Design, Kolping Berufskolleg für Grafik-Design, Fellbach
Selected Performances & Participatory Projects (since 2011) 2020/2021 Next Stop Stengårsdvej – A performative travel into the future of Esbjerg Ø, a ’6705 + Statens Kunstfond‘ project by collctive bleeding, Esbjerg 2019 Fabrik der Frauen (factory of women), Audiowalk and installation in collaboration with former workers of the spinning mill Leipzig, X-Spindeln Festival, LOFFT Theater Leipzig Sport findet Stadt, performative walk in collaboration with locals, Museum Weißenfels (October) 2018 Sehnsucht Wanne – a Neighbourhood Laboratory, long term community project, Junge Impulse Festival Herne Hafen der Stadt – Arrival City, audio walk based on interviews with locals, Pöge-Haus Leipzig 2017 A matter of faith Leipzig – interreligious dialogical project involving the multicultural neighbourhood of the so called “most dangerous street of Germany”, Kirchentag auf dem Weg, Leipzig Lindenau Re-Visited (2007/2017), with Herman Heisig, LOFFT Theatre Leipzig Casino of the Values, with Juliane Meckert, World Congress of Reformatory Churches, Leipzig 2016 A matter of faith Aarhus – an interreligious treasure hunt in public space, Aarhus Theatre Neighbourhood Summer School, HAL Atelierhaus & Pöge-Haus, Kunstfest Neustadt, Leipzig Lene’s Neighbours, audio walk based on interviews with locals, MÜHLSTRASSE 14 e.V., Leipzig Rusty Nail – Voices of the Georg-Schumann-Street, performative walk, Night of the Arts, Leipzig Sehnsucht Röcknitz, audio walk based on interviews with locals, Festival Foodtour & Art, Röcknitz 2015 Keimzelle(n) ‘89, audio walk, the peaceful revolution in Leipzig’s East, Pöge-Haus, Leipzig Wild Places: Connewitz, performative walk with local activists, Architektursommer Leipzig Sehnsucht Eisenbahnstrasse, audio walk based on interviews with locals from the so called “most dangerous street of Germany”, Kunstfest Neustadt, Leipzig Practising firstsite 2, site related performance, firstside – Contemporary visual arts in Colchester Unexpected Possibility, pop up playgrounds, part3 – Participation in Art und Culture, Oberhausen 2014 schlafende vögel (sleeping birds), performative walk, with Nora Mansmann, Theater Basel My places – the narratives of the city, with former miners, Stiftung Zollverein & part3, Essen 2013 Der bewegte Raum – a performative trilogy, Festival ‘Tanzlokal’, Stuttgart Climat Parcours, performative walk, Stadttheater Bremerhaven, Festival ODYSSEE : CLIMAT 2012 Dhaka Walk, a performative exploration of the city of Dhaka, Britto Arts Trust, Dhaka Practising firstsite, site related performance, firstside – Contemporary visual arts, Colchester Can two streets merge into one?, site related performative walk, with Wu Meng, Chinatage Leipzig PROtest, long term community project, Art Space [10.]lindenau, Leipzig 2011 Performing (with) a museum, FLUXUS in Germany 1962–1994, National Contemporary Arts Museum, Bucharest & Contemporary Arts Museum, Ankara, on behalf of the Goethe Institut INTERVALS – audiowalk based on interviews with locals, Metropolis Biennale Copenhagen Walking through Walls, with Helen Stratford, audio walk-for-one, Stadttheater Bremerhaven
Awards & nominations: Walking Visionaries Award – Jury Prize for the project ‘Leipzig Quater Expeditions’, category Walking and the Arts, Walk21 Vienna 2015 | Shortlist, Art competition Landesgartenschau Gießen 2014, 1st place, [10.] Lindenau – art in public space competition, Leipzig 2012 | Nomination for ‘Kunstfoerderpreis’ by Stadtwerke Halle 2004
Artistic direction: Artistic Director ‘Leipzig Quater Expeditions’ – long term community project, Leipzig, since 2014 | Artistic Director ‘play!LEIPZIG – Movement in Urban Space’ – Conference and Performance Festival, with Patrick Primavesi, Dance Archive Leipzig & Centraltheater, Leipzig 2009–2010 | Artistic Director team “Zwischengruen”, public art festival, Kunstverein Leipzig 2008–2009 | Founder and Artistic Director ‘Werkstattmacher’, program to encourage young performance artists, LOFFT Theatre Leipzig 2007–2009 dianawesser.de | leipziger-stadtteilexpeditionen.de | dianawesser.de/EFDG | urbancollaboratory.net