Winter Assembly 2026
M.1 Hohenlockstedt Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung
M.1 Hohenlockstedt Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung
Kunst, Ökologie, Politik
Art, Ecology, Politics
Ning Zhou
February 2026
February 2026
This February, I had the chance to join the winter assembly of Art as an Ecological Practice, curated by Ronald Kolb at M.1 Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung in Hohenlockstedt. Ronald first visited the Eco Arts Studio in September 2024, during my first semester at Waseda. Meeting again in Hohenlockstedt felt like such a shift both in time and space. The conversation that began in Tokyo continued in a completely different landscape.
THE SPACE
The site that is now M. 1 once served as a military training base mainly used by the Finnish army. Later, it was taken over by the local family foundation, the Arthur Boskamp Foundation, and renovated. At the beginning, it functioned mainly as an exhibition space for contemporary art. Over time, however, the organizers noticed the absence of the local community at the events, with most visitors coming from Hamburg, Berlin, and other large cities. Through conversations, some local residents confessed that they felt intimidated by the place. For many people, the space appeared too elegant or too specialized, something that did not belong to their everyday environment or their familiarity with art and culture. Others simply did not feel particularly interested in art.
I wouldn’t find that surprising, to be honest. Hohenlockstedt is a small town in the northern part of Germany. When I arrived, it was winter, and everything felt quiet, almost compressed under heavy snow. Many activities slow down during this season. At the local bakery, a young girl greeted me warmly and said she was happy to see foreign customers because it finally gave her a chance to speak English. Moments like that made me think that even if some residents feel distant from what they imagine to be an “elite art world”, there is still a desire for culture, recreation, and creativity.
After recognizing this gap, the space gradually began to open itself to the local community. Today, it hosts activities such as a film club, a comic club for teenagers, a knitting group, and a repair café. This evolution of the space resonated strongly with the ideas we often discuss in the Eco Arts Lab: reuse, care, and returning knowledge and resources to the community.
The site that is now M. 1 once served as a military training base mainly used by the Finnish army. Later, it was taken over by the local family foundation, the Arthur Boskamp Foundation, and renovated. At the beginning, it functioned mainly as an exhibition space for contemporary art. Over time, however, the organizers noticed the absence of the local community at the events, with most visitors coming from Hamburg, Berlin, and other large cities. Through conversations, some local residents confessed that they felt intimidated by the place. For many people, the space appeared too elegant or too specialized, something that did not belong to their everyday environment or their familiarity with art and culture. Others simply did not feel particularly interested in art.
I wouldn’t find that surprising, to be honest. Hohenlockstedt is a small town in the northern part of Germany. When I arrived, it was winter, and everything felt quiet, almost compressed under heavy snow. Many activities slow down during this season. At the local bakery, a young girl greeted me warmly and said she was happy to see foreign customers because it finally gave her a chance to speak English. Moments like that made me think that even if some residents feel distant from what they imagine to be an “elite art world”, there is still a desire for culture, recreation, and creativity.
After recognizing this gap, the space gradually began to open itself to the local community. Today, it hosts activities such as a film club, a comic club for teenagers, a knitting group, and a repair café. This evolution of the space resonated strongly with the ideas we often discuss in the Eco Arts Lab: reuse, care, and returning knowledge and resources to the community.
*from left to right: the kid cinema, the holo comic club, the film club, the repair café
THE ASSEMBLY
The winter assembly marked the final chapter of the 1.5-year project Art as an Ecological Practice. Through seasonal gatherings and ongoing experiments, the series explored how artistic practice can engage with ecology, human and non-human relationships, and the environments we inhabit.
One of the central moments of the winter assembly was the “translocal dinner”, a collaborative dinner created by various local and international artists and contributors. The idea was to explore the connections between humans and the environment through food, while linking local knowledge with global perspectives. Learning about the origins and process of the translocal dinner was fascinating, and it later became an inspiration for my own work during the stay. As part of the preparation, we visited several local residents. Some were gardeners, hunters, fish farmers, or organic farmers. Even during a season when much of the work paused, their enthusiasm and knowledge were impressive. Each person carried their own perspective on topics such as biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, consumer habits, or the presence of deer in the local ecosystem. One old lady in particular left a strong impression on me. She lives largely from what she grows in her own garden. She shared her experience cultivating different local species and vegetables, including branches and small edible buds that she dries for tea. She later became one of the contributors to the translocal dinner.
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The winter assembly marked the final chapter of the 1.5-year project Art as an Ecological Practice. Through seasonal gatherings and ongoing experiments, the series explored how artistic practice can engage with ecology, human and non-human relationships, and the environments we inhabit.
One of the central moments of the winter assembly was the “translocal dinner”, a collaborative dinner created by various local and international artists and contributors. The idea was to explore the connections between humans and the environment through food, while linking local knowledge with global perspectives. Learning about the origins and process of the translocal dinner was fascinating, and it later became an inspiration for my own work during the stay. As part of the preparation, we visited several local residents. Some were gardeners, hunters, fish farmers, or organic farmers. Even during a season when much of the work paused, their enthusiasm and knowledge were impressive. Each person carried their own perspective on topics such as biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, consumer habits, or the presence of deer in the local ecosystem. One old lady in particular left a strong impression on me. She lives largely from what she grows in her own garden. She shared her experience cultivating different local species and vegetables, including branches and small edible buds that she dries for tea. She later became one of the contributors to the translocal dinner.
During the opening of the assembly, the mayor gave a speech in German. At one point, he turned to me, noticing that I was one of the few people in the room who did not speak the language, and asked if I understood anything. I replied with the only three words I had caught during the talk: “Kunst, Ökologie, Politik”. (Art, ecology, politics). People laughed, and someone said, “That’s all you need.”
*from left to right: the hunter’s house, the path to the garden, the goods from the organic farm, the fish farm
PEOPLE, CONVERSATIONS, AND M
Y
WORK
During the first few days at M.1, I was alone in the large building most of the time. Walking through the different rooms felt a bit like exploring the map of an adventure game, slowly unlocking and discovering different areas. As more people arrived, I began meeting artists, staff members, local residents, and participants traveling from nearby cities such as Hamburg. While observing and helping with the preparation of the translocal dinner, what fascinated me most were the small conversations that happened in between everything else. They took place at the dinner table, over breakfast and coffee, or around the stove in the kitchen. At some point, it suddenly struck me that the kitchen is such a political arena. Different stories and viewpoints were shared at the table so naturally through discussions that ranged from ingredients, farming methods, consumer habits, and recipes to parenting, marriage, young people moving to big cities, and changing family values. Each conversation opened another perspective and often another question.
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It was such refreshing and inspiring moments to be constantly showered with different ideas in a new environment, even the most mundane and spontaneous ones. Hence, I kept posing questions along the way to everyone I encountered, and I always tried to pay attention and listen. The power of listening is so underrated today, especially when we can so easily get drowned in visuals, videos, and endless streams of information. In that sense, listening becomes a quiet form of attention and care. The time, patience, and effort required to listen might actually be harder to offer than ever before. I began collecting fragments of these words and reflections. Together with my own journey from my hometown to Hohenlockstedt, they eventually formed a participatory collage poster that I created during the two weeks of my stay. The piece is titled “聽 Gehörtes”, which can be translated as “Things Heard”.
Looking back, the words that stayed with me the most were still the three I caught during the mayor’s speech: art, ecology, politics. Before coming to M.1, I often felt hesitant about putting such large themes together. In some ways, I understood the hesitation of local residents who once felt unsure about entering an art exhibition space. Yet during the assembly, these three ideas appeared again and again, not as abstract theories but through small conversations, meals, and shared experiences. Art, ecology, and politics were already present in daily life, sometimes quietly reinforcing one another. Perhaps that is also one of the aims of the whole series. To open a building that people once felt afraid to enter. And at the same time, to open a space where such conversations can begin.
During the first few days at M.1, I was alone in the large building most of the time. Walking through the different rooms felt a bit like exploring the map of an adventure game, slowly unlocking and discovering different areas. As more people arrived, I began meeting artists, staff members, local residents, and participants traveling from nearby cities such as Hamburg. While observing and helping with the preparation of the translocal dinner, what fascinated me most were the small conversations that happened in between everything else. They took place at the dinner table, over breakfast and coffee, or around the stove in the kitchen. At some point, it suddenly struck me that the kitchen is such a political arena. Different stories and viewpoints were shared at the table so naturally through discussions that ranged from ingredients, farming methods, consumer habits, and recipes to parenting, marriage, young people moving to big cities, and changing family values. Each conversation opened another perspective and often another question.
It was such refreshing and inspiring moments to be constantly showered with different ideas in a new environment, even the most mundane and spontaneous ones. Hence, I kept posing questions along the way to everyone I encountered, and I always tried to pay attention and listen. The power of listening is so underrated today, especially when we can so easily get drowned in visuals, videos, and endless streams of information. In that sense, listening becomes a quiet form of attention and care. The time, patience, and effort required to listen might actually be harder to offer than ever before. I began collecting fragments of these words and reflections. Together with my own journey from my hometown to Hohenlockstedt, they eventually formed a participatory collage poster that I created during the two weeks of my stay. The piece is titled “聽 Gehörtes”, which can be translated as “Things Heard”.
Looking back, the words that stayed with me the most were still the three I caught during the mayor’s speech: art, ecology, politics. Before coming to M.1, I often felt hesitant about putting such large themes together. In some ways, I understood the hesitation of local residents who once felt unsure about entering an art exhibition space. Yet during the assembly, these three ideas appeared again and again, not as abstract theories but through small conversations, meals, and shared experiences. Art, ecology, and politics were already present in daily life, sometimes quietly reinforcing one another. Perhaps that is also one of the aims of the whole series. To open a building that people once felt afraid to enter. And at the same time, to open a space where such conversations can begin.
