E-WERK’s team transformed a former GDR brown coal power station into a renewable energy producer and space for artists and audiences to engage in creative practice. The former coal power station located 30 minutes south of Berlin was built in 1913, but ceased production in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin wall.

In 2017, Performance Electrics gGmbH (a non-profit renewable energy provider) led by artist Pablo Wendel acquired the former brown-coal power station with the vision to reanimate it as a sustainable Kunststrom provider. Kuntststrom is electricity produced through artwork or artistic methods. 

 E-WERK Luckenwalde aerial photograph, 2019. Copyright of E-WERK Luckenwalde and Tim Haber.

As part of POWER NIGHT 2019, Performance Electrics formally switched the power of the former factory back on and now feeds renewable power to the national grid whilst functioning as a contemporary art centre

Sun & Sea is an opera by Lithuanian artists Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė and Lina Lapelytė, set on an indoor beach filled with parasols, holidaymakers, dogs and children. 

In their songs, performers warn of climate change and impending ecological disasters. This very special opera  was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale 2019.

With your help the performance will return to Luckenwalde on 1–2 May 2021 in the empty Bauhaus swimming pool- complete with 100% CO2-neutral Kunststrom electricity, heat and light!

Stadtbad, Luckenwalde, 2020. Image courtesy of E-WERK Luckenwalde, LUBA and Stefan Korte.  

Sun_Sea (Marina), opera-performance by Rugile Barz… Biennale Arte 2019, Venice © Andrej Vasilenko

The Kickstarter will ensure E-WERK can bring Sun & Sea to Luckenwalde, taking direct action against and building awareness of climate change, as well as creating opportunities for artists and audiences to make and safely experience a world-class piece of art during the global pandemic. 

In return for donating to ‘Bring the Sun to Luckenwalde’, Kickstarter supporters can choose from a range of Universal Works products made in collaboration with E-WERK.

“We came to this project as we do to most collaborative projects: we meet people that we share an interest with, and it develops organically.  E-WERK’s team transformed a former GDR brown coal power station into a renewable energy producer and space for artists and audiences to engage in creative practice, powered by Kunststrom (art power). Universal Works is also very much about understanding the past and mixing it with contemporary ideas. We like to champion small scale production, businesses and arts. We loved Sun & Sea (Marina) at the Venice Biennale, so when E-WERK announced they were bringing it to a former Bauhaus swimming pool, we were honoured to be asked to create a small collection to support this amazing project. The most obvious choice for us to collaborate on was a classic Universal Works Bakers Jacket, a workwear classic and one of the first garments we made as a brand. This style of jacket is synonymous with labour and factories and is a nod to E-WERK’s rich history. With the jacket as a centrepiece, we developed a few other items to reference all things Universal Works and E-WERK! We hope you love it as much as we do! "  David Keyte, UW designer and co-founder  

Universal Works x E-WERK collaboration. Image by Diana Pfammatter, courtesy of E-WERK Luckenwalde and Universal Works.

Universal Works x E-WERK collaboration. Image by Diana Pfammatter, courtesy of E-WERK Luckenwalde and Universal Works.
 

Visit E werk Luckenwalde’s kickstarter campaign here.