The Gorbitz Treasure

Gorbitz is a large residential area in the south-east of Dresden. The city of Dresden wants to improve the quality of life and reputation of this neighborhood and has invited artists to come up with an idea as part of the “Socially Integrative City” urban renewal program. My proposal: The Gorbitz Treasure: The budget for the competition (35,000 euros) will be used to acquire a treasure for Gorbitz. The treasure is made of fine silver. The treasure will be hidden in Gorbitz. 2000 cloths with an embroidered code will be distributed in Gorbitz. 75% of the collected codes indicate the location of the treasure. If the treasure is not found, it will remain in the hiding place and possibly form a legend for the historically undescribed city area.

It is up to the inhabitants to organize or negotiate whether and by what means the treasure will be found and what might happen to it. My proposal amounts to an experiment whose movements and results are unpredictable. The processes are neither easy to document, nor can their effects be depicted. I am proposing a project that will probably only take place in social space. No sculpture, no foundation, no permanent “artistic setting” in the residential area. What is hoped for is an impulse that makes us understand: No fairy tale is coming to us, the most we can do is make one ourselves. And a different one than the one in the storybook. It is about a “real fairy tale” that is happening today.