Description of the project

Description of the project

What am I doing on earth?

What does it mean to me to be in the world?

These questions are the starting point for participating in the 'Forum Place-of-Encounter' (Forum Ort des Treffens).

Forum Ort des Treffens is a mobile space for reflection which offers participants as individuals and in groups - the opportunity to reflect aloud on these two questions. Participants choose the place where they do this reflection.

The reflecting person is seated on a chair placed on a yellow felt circle while the reflections are witnessed by a team member sitting outside of the circle. This witness does not speak but listens in an active way.

Forum Ort des Treffens is composed of two processes: the ‘encounter with oneself’ (Selbsttreffen) and the ‘encounter with the other’ (Einandertreffen).

Forum Ort des Treffens (FOdT) is a ‘citizens’ group’ that has grown out of the early Ort des Treffens project, initiated and inspired by Shelley Sacks, Oxford University.

We, the team of Forum Ort des Treffens invite you to participate in this process which begins by reflecting on these two questions in a self-selected place. This is what we call ‘Place of Encounter with Oneself’ (Ort des Selbsttreffens).

During a second process named ‘Place of Encounter with the Other’ (Ort des Einandertreffens) the space of reflection is created in a public situation, using an extended yellow felt circle. In this group process each of the participants has the opportunity to reflect on these two questions once again and to listen ‘actively’ to each of the other participants as they share their thoughts, questions and perspectives.

Forum Ort des Treffens is a ‘social sculpture’ based on the understanding that ‘every human being is an artist’. This well-known statement by the artist Joseph Beuys emphasises the importance of us recognising that we are artists of our own lives and of the society. It invites us to appreciate and develop our capacities for connective thinking and action so that it is possible to face up to and explore the vital questions of our time in an open and creative way.

A human and ecological community depends on the participation of conscious, connected individuals: Individual citizens who are conscious of what they want and what they need. In Forum Ort des Treffens the reflective process brings us to ourselves and helps us explore questions like the connection between freedom and responsibility, as well as what it means to be an active citizen shaping our own life and the world around us.

If you are interested contact by mail info@ortdestreffensforum.de (Team) or by phone: 0049511-64216481 (Gert Schmidt).

Übersetzung aus dem Deutschen: Helge Mücke

 

Joseph Beuys’ idea of Social Sculpture nowadays found an essential practical continuation by Shelley Sacks. She is the founder and leader of the Social Sculpture Research Unit (SSRU) in Oxford which is the globally first research institution on Social Sculpture. During nearly three decades Shelley Sacks is exploring the field of Social Sculpture and working on it. In 2009 she initiated the project „Ort des Treffens“ (Place of Encountering) in Hannover.