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Bucher Porträts
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Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender and Aleksandra Koneva
Artists at the Buch Künstlerhof
How something just clicked
How did a „serious“ husband and wife team of artists come to work with children? „At the end of 2002, the Berlin Philharmonic asked us if we wanted to take part in the Education Project, and
we agreed immediately“, said Michael Friedrichs-
Friedlaender (53) and Aleksandra Koneva (32), artists at the Buch Künstlerhof.
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Taking part in the project over a period of weeks were musicians from the Philharmonia and the artists working with pupils, senior citizens and patients in workshops involving the theme „The Four Seasons“ by Vivaldi.
For the artists this was not the first time that they had been involved with children. Friedrichs-Friedlaender had already worked with 10-year children from Buch on sculptures for the Buch skateboard rink. In addition, Aleksandra Koneva, is a fully qualified art teacher and so is a „pro“ when it comes to teaching children about art and creativity. However, the most important thing was the potential for fun and they both enjoyed this right from the start. „When you are engaged on an artwork you yourself are never completely grown up“, claimed Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender.
How do you get adolescents interested in art when previously all they have been interested in are computer games? „Children have so much creative potential, they just need a little direction. You have to develop situations so that things can click“, says Friedrichs-Friedlaender. That this actually happened is shown by the four vibrant and highly imaginative sculptures associated with the „Four Seasons“, that the Buch children made last year under the supervision of the artists. Because the collaboration with the Philharmonic was so successful, the artists also took artistic charge of the „Petrushka“ project.
 So there was no question that the two artists would also take part this year when the Berlin Philharmonic proposed the Handel oratorio „Belshazzar“ as the subject in Berlin Buch. With this in mind,
Friedrichs-Friedlaender has already produced a book the size of a man that the children will have to fill with their own experiences on subjects like violence or discrimination making use of stories from the Bible. As far as the children’s artistic project last year was concerned, such themes played virtually no role at all, recalled the artists. „In particular, it amazed us how the Buch pupils welcomed and mixed with the children from the school for the physically handicapped“, said Aleksandra Koneva.
Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender comes from Munich but has lived in Berlin since the nineteen seventies. The trained welder, whose preferred material is steel, regards himself as being in the tradition of the sculptors of the 18th and 19th century, when art was a significant part of everyday life. For this reason, he likes collaborating with architects, designs furniture and takes part in projects which combine several artistic disciplines, like the theatrical productions at the Künstlerhof or projects like those with the Philharmonica. Since 1984, he has displayed his work regularly at exhibitions in Germany and elsewhere is Europe.
The first exhibition of Aleksandra Koneva in Germany was also their first joint exhibition as a married couple – in 1997 at the Buch Künstlerhof. Born in Kazakstan, Koneva has been a freelance artist in Berlin since 1996. This is where she got to know her future husband and they married in 1997. From 1990 to 1996 she studied at the Art Teachers School in St. Petersburg.
Aleksandra Koneva has found that in Germany the status of art in society is too low. Projects like that of the Philharmonic must offer much more in her opinion. „Someone needs to come from England first to do something like this“, she said. By this she meant Sir Simon Rattle, chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmonic, whose initiative it was to start the Education Project. In her homeland of Russia, too, art for children has a higher status. For example, there the training of art teachers is much more wide ranging, covering specialties like painting, sculpture, commercial art or printing.
She does not understand why such training is not recognized in Germany. Her disappointment about this is still apparent. Aleksandra Koneva is involved in a very wide range of artistic activities: painting, print graphics, photography and collages are just some of the techniques she uses. An overview of her work can be obtained at her current exhibition in the new building (Neubau) of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Potsdam-Babelsberg which runs from March 31 to April 30, 2004.
Everyone in Buch is already very excited about what will come from this year’s collaboration with the children. One thing is certain: This will not be the last time that Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender and Aleksandra Koneva will be working with children - and for them.
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At this site you will find portraits of Buch's citizens and institutions that we think you will be interested in. New ones will be dispalyed each month.
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