Exploring Flows

Partners: Dyffryn Dyfodol (Wales) and Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften (Quakenbrück, Lower Saxony)

Image © Exploring Flows

"Dyffryn Dyfodol and Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften continue developing and exploring the integration of their practices across countries, focusing on empowering communities and addressing key issues shaping rural spaces. Through reciprocal visits and collaborative residencies of socially engaged creatives, we aim to instigate positive change in rural communities."

Dyffryn Dyfodol CIC and Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften

Exploring Flows is a Tier Two partnership previously funded by Cultural Bridge. Find out more about their Tier One partnership.

About the partners

Dyffryn Dyfodol CIC’s vision is that people have the power to make positive changes for their communities. Power includes, amongst other things, confidence, resources, time, desire, responsibility, skills, experience and openness. Our mission is to bring people together to collaboratively build positive things with creativity, a spirit of enquiry and kindness for communities and the planet.

We work collaboratively with a broad range (and sometimes unexpected) project partners, communities and creatives with creativity and collaboration as the spark to make things happen and to do things differently. We love not knowing what will emerge, not having the answers, not gate-keeping, not deciding on behalf of others, handing over decisions to others, questioning the usual way of doing things and proactively doing things differently and learning throughout the process. We create frameworks for others to thrive and be creative, come up with new ideas and ways of working that are suited to particular contexts, of place, people, culture and time. Through this open ended approach, we are involved in things beyond our knowledge and experience, creating things that we cannot have imagined at the inception of a project.

Artist group Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften is connecting with rural spaces and communities all over Germany through socially engaged art. The six members regard the countryside as a space that has always been queer, heterogenous and globalised. In their work they explore ways of rural storytelling that invite a change of perspective and show our interconnections with each other. In 2023, the Syndikat celebrates it’s 10th anniversary.

The Syndikat works across different mediums such as exhibitions, radio plays, parties or walks - because the form has to fit the local constellation. The process oriented practice of Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften puts the development of relationships at the centre. The number of participants can vary from 10 to 100 depending on project and place. Additionally, the Syndikat promotes the discourse on rural art practices through workshops and talks for cultural networks and funding institutions as well as their research at the University of Koblenz.

The working principle is to never work anywhere only once. Recently they have started a partnership with Meppen based Förderverein für Kunst und Kultur which they plan to expand over the coming years.