YAMA ARTIST RETREAT
is a place of work and contemplation for artists of all disciplines engaged in research in the field of social sculpture

FROM THE INSIDE OUT
Unlike sculpture—in which the artwork is carved from the outside in, for example from stone—social sculpture is modeled from malleable materials from the inside out. Thus, a constructive process is employed—a living growth and shaping.
Joseph Beuys, in particular, used the term “social sculpture” to refer to an art whose primary task is to shape society in an ongoing process of formation from the inside out.
In this respect, it is clearly distinct from activism, which is an outward-directed counterforce, as a force that arises from within, is constructive, and thus transformative.
In the expanded concept of art, all areas that influence society and human social relations—intellectual life, the state, science, as well as the economy—become fields of activity for art.
Thus, ideally, the artistic individual operates here from a place of responsible, self-determined, and artistic thinking and action.
For this reason, it is very important to me that the artists at the Yama Art Retreat do not work in a results-oriented manner, but rather are able to use the time for contemplation and inspiration

THE FORM AND SHAPING OF THE SOCIAL ORGANISM
The individual human being and the social and ecological form of society that is to be transformed are understood as a magnum opus that must be continually created.Thinking and action are no longer guided solely by traditional structures and historically accumulated knowledge, but open themselves to a form that must first be developed in a forward-looking manner or shaped artistically—that is, ethically and aesthetically.
This arises from the free field of possibilities, that is, in the energetic and the visionary. In the transformation of the social and ecological organism, we find the only possibility for a living and viable form of society that does justice to the essence of the human being and to the human whole, which is living nature in its entirety, into which the human being can shape themselves in accordance with their essence.
And this is achieved through individual insight communicated within the social organism.
This mediation is one of the decisive functions of artistic expression.

CREATE RATHER THAN REACT
Social Sculpture calls for the active participation of every single person, each of whom, as an individual, is crucial to the whole—otherwise, he or she would not have been born as a human being with individual will, thought, feeling, and action.
However, existing educational, legal, and economic systems suppress the creative power inherent in human beings, even though human dignity lies in one’s individual creative power.
A creative social and ecological life should be based solely on the moral imperative, and not on protecting capitalist elements that secure power.In the best-case scenario, the moral imperative could be independently considered and defended by the human community.But since, after centuries of paternalism, we must first learn so much independence, the very first question of healing artistic creation is:
How do we inspire and encourage everyone to participate in social sculpture with personal responsibility?
How do we encourage people to think for themselves and observe closely?
How do we raise awareness of the subtle mechanisms of paternalism and oppression?
Where do unused opportunities for participation and collective creation lie within current social structures?

THE BODY AS A SOCIAL SCULPTURE
Once the social realm is fully recognized as one with the ecological and economic challenges of our time, the unity of the individual and the earthly body is also recognized.
A consideration of our fundamental reality of life also makes this unity very clear, since all elements of our individual external world, upon closer inspection, are by no means outside of us, but actually pass through us in constant cycles and connect us with all other living beings: the air we breathe connects us without limit to everything we have so far recognized in the universe as living organisms, while at the same time revitalizing every cell of our own body at every moment of our lives through our blood, enriched again and again with oxygen, which in turn contains the genetic information of our ancestors since the origin of organic life.
Every single human being is thus organically and fundamentally connected through their cardiovascular system directly to the totality of life in space and time.
Furthermore, we consist largely of water, just like the planet that makes our life possible, and this water circulates in our individual bodies just as it does in the global body.
The water that circulates through us and between us is always the same water.
From an elemental perspective, we are therefore our nature and a single organism.
However, the mental constructs of competition and abstract economics have distanced us greatly from the direct perception of our fundamental reality, with extremely destructive consequences for all life on Earth.
Therefore, the urgent requirements for a cultural life that creates the conditions for our continued existence are clear: the perception of our fundamental being must be revived.
This is especially true against the backdrop of an increasingly virtual culture that does not foster but rather undermines our innate sensory and empathic abilities. Therefore, immediate physical art that engages its audience in a direct sensory and/or energetically interactive experience is currently an artistic medium of great significance.
These encounters can take place anywhere and without warning, yet to facilitate a meaningful inner experience, they should not take people by surprise—physically, emotionally, or mentally—but rather evoke fascination and openness

APPLICATIONS
Artists applying to the Yama Art Retreat should present their previous artistic research, but not a specific goal for their residency.
They can use the 70-square-meter white cube studio and the garden in a quiet village in northern Germany for their work and are responsible only for the running costs.
They can also visit me in Berlin to realize works in public urban spaces.
There, I am happy to facilitate contact with various Berlin project spaces as well as with the APAB (Association of Performance Artists Berlin).
https://apaborg.wordpress.com/2003/12/23/barbara-kowa/
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