Moving Dialogue, Zentralwerk Dresden

Zentralwerk is a unique artist-run space where afford- able housing and cultural work mixes with experimental, forward-thinking, innovative and participatory artistic production. 

It is a collective of artists, humanists, architects and craftsmen that has been staging performances, festivals, exhibitions and concerts in Dresden for over a decade now. The underlying vision of Zentralwerk is to provide a non-profit open space for self-determined living and cultural work. Self-organization, diversity and civil society involvement are the core topics that Zentralwerk aims to approach by participatory artistic expression. In its urban context, Zentralwerk understands itself as a project focused on building strong local networks by being an active part of a creative and socially diverse neighborhood while promoting the European idea by enabling international collaborations. At the same time, Zentralwerk is fundamentally a “learning organization” whose innovation processes are constantly practiced internally in order to add value, skills and experience to the organization, its staff and volunteers so as to grow together as a collective thinking, feeling and living organism, first of all in situ, but also affecting the social landscape beyond. 

Zentralwerk opened in 2016 and offers apartments, studios and opportunities for joint cultural production in a former industrial district. In addition to over a hundred local participants, the project involves cooperation partners from Germany and abroad as well as visitors from the urban community.

In its founding phase The Moving Academy was invited to support the inner community building process. After a lively analyses with the Zentralwerk Team, Kristín Guttenberg developed and facilitated a joint venture for the Zentralwerk community first phase, based on her ‚Moving Dialogue‘ Methodology.