Learning from Loheland

We are directing our attention to Loheland. As a unique settlement and educa­tional project for young women it was founded in 1919 close to Fulda in the Hessian Rhön Mountains. A lively settlement with self­designed dwelling houses for educating and housing female students emerged with a big creative drive and talent for improvisation. • Workshops for photography, leather crafts, pottery and wood evolved. The two founders Louise Langgaard und Hedwig von Rohden were educated grammar school teachers and developed a holistic educational training programme. The residents of Loheland gained visibility with their gymnastics and dance shows as well as with their handiworks. They were closely connected with the protagonists of the avant­garde arts and cultural scenes of Weimar, Dresden, Berlin, München and Hamburg. However, today their activities seem to be forgotten. • Learning from Loheland presents this chapter of German design and arts history from the viewpoint of the six contemporary artists – the stage designer and artist Marie Gimpel, the visual artists Judith Kisner and Alex Hojenski, the visual artist and filmmaker Jasmin Preiß, visual artist and musician Julia Rómas, and graphic designer Lea Sievertsen. They intertwine the understanding of Loheland’s students regarding the female* body, their imagery, their affiliation, and value­related questions with current, feminist, and personal contexts. The artists’ works are interwoven with a collection of historical pictures and exhibits of Loheland and thus enable a transition from the past to the present. At the same time, they also ask questions concerning feminist cohesion and collective (artistic) structures. What can we learn from Loheland?