The Enabler

In unserer Rubrik „Was macht eigentlich…?“ erzählen Hochschulangehörige von und über ihre Arbeit.

Lorraine Liedert, born in Düsseldorf in 1992, started as the manager for events at the Faculty of Art and Design (KuD) at the HfK Bremen in January 2024.

Anybody who wants to set up their first exhibition or their umpteenth performance, a reading or give a presentation themselves is advised by the Faculty Administration Art and Design to turn to Lorraine Liedert – the enabler. To facilitate all kinds of events you have to be an event manager, -technician and a curator all at the same time, am I right?

Yes, I guess it is a combination of all of the above. I taught myself these abilities by learning on the job. I took courses here and there, picked up knowledge wherever I could, especially as a student assistant with my predecessor in the position, Jan Charzinski. 

What department are you actually associated with?

The administration likes to call me their appendix. Yes, I float between everyone, always staying in the mix, picking up and trying to hold all kinds of threads together or tie them together. I am also there for faculty, but first of all for the students. I then communicate their needs and wishes for an event to faculty, administration, the rectorate, the building services, the public relations department, clarifying where, what, when, how and why programmes or events should happen. 

What is the first step?

Everything starts with booking the room, followed by considering how the event should be organised: how many people are coming and what technology, tools, materials, expertise and skills of other people are needed. I am the first point of contact, but then I am happy to refer people to colleagues, such as the two highly trained event technicians here in the building, Michael Hinrichs and Max Geßelmann-Michaelis. 

What kind of information do you need to promote events? 

There is a whole set of questions: Is there a circular mailing, will the event be included in the newsletter, on the website, are there flyers, advertisements, press releases, where else should communication take place, which people should be invited, what do they need and is the security of the event guaranteed? 

May I dare say that you are the communicator and moderator for KuD events with a lot of patience and a big heart? 

That sounds great. 

What is less great, namely the most common problem occurring at events? 

Is there an adapter for the projector? We often fail there (laughs). My aim is always to explain the technology to participants in such a way that they can use it themselves in the future. 

What is the main question when you get to work on events? 

Many people still think of me as the student assistant who helps with the setup. But that is no longer my job. I prepare, organise. That is why do not comply with the main demand, namely: `can you put the chairs up and put them away again?´. I don't do that anymore, you have to be able to demand that people doing an event get involved themselves or get help or create a position for a full-time person to set up chairs at the HfK. 

That sounds a little annoyed. 

No, not at all. I just want everyone to be clear about the limits of my work. 

Are you responsible for all events in the KuD area? 

In the end, yes, whether the lecture series Freie Kunst, Lunch Talks, Salon Digital, exhibitions by students, graduates and teachers are concerned – I always try to support. Wherever a pair of hands is needed, I feel like I have to jump in then and there. Sometimes the events run without any need for additional support. 

What is important to you when you get to work?

A basic sensitivity for people and for spaces. I am also on site when rooms are being designed and set up for events, my work load permitting. 

How many events do you supervise per semester? 

At the beginning of the semester, I know of maybe five events based on inquiries. But over the course of the semester that number quickly goes beyond 50. Unfortunately, I can not attend all of them. There's just not enough time. My position is for 30 hours a week. 

So you're mainly busy with preparations, you don't do the wiring, you don't sit at the lighting and sound mixer or run the PowerPoint presentation? 

Even though some people would like me to do that, these duties do not fall within my job. 

When the setup starts, is your work done? 

Yes, I try to coordinate everything beforehand. 

Do you help design exhibitions, decide how pictures are hung, install room dividers, and so forth? 

I have not been asked to take on these chores explicitly yet, because most people don't even know that I was able to learn such things here at the HfK. But sometimes I can pass on tips and provide a view from a different perspective. But I try not to interfere because I know from my time as a student, that one does not like people meddling. But if someone asks me for that kind of support, I am happy to comply. 

What kind of professional training have you attained so far? 

I have a bachelor's degree in integrated design at the HfK, and I've always done a lot of theory and writing. I then became interested in scenography and exhibition architecture, which Professor Asli Serbest called Temporary Spaces. I always knew that graphics couldn't fulfill me or make me happy. Something else had to come along, which is why I've moved into the third dimension, interior design. And now I'm also accompanying and helping to design events in the spaces, as well as the human interaction that goes with that. Graphic design could never give me that.

Do you consider yourself an artist? 

During the semester break: yes! Otherwise I don't have time to create art. 

Do you consider your final thesis art? 

For me it is. 

What did you do? 

I built a large wooden sculpture, a three-sided staircase, which I used for performance purposes and read out a text I wrote myself on the subject of transition rituals between phases of life. I tried to research these issues. 

Young teenagers go through puberty, free-spirited art students become salaried graphic designers... 

... yes, something like that – and how that has changed throughout history. Things that used to be celebrated so much hardly exist anymore. Who still gets married these days, who still goes to communion? 

Have you thought about how you are going to make a living with a degree like that? 

The aim was more to prove to myself that I could achieve this degree on my own in terms relating to design and content. I knew during my studies that I would not and could not earn any money later with just my bachelor's degree. 

How did you pay for your studies? 

I never had the luxury of being able to just study. I paid for my studies mostly with four jobs alongside my full load of courses. After that I was pretty much exhausted. I wanted to leave the HfK behind me after that and think about what I wanted to do with my life. I had planned to go to Morocco as a surfing instructor first. But then my partner got an offer to work in Uganda, so I went with him and we lived there for three and a half years. 

What did you do before studying? 

I completed a dual training course in Mönchengladbach as a design assistant for graphics and printing, the first steps of becoming a media designer. But before that I dropped out with a secondary school certificate, so I fit the typical HfK artist profile. 

After all the years at the HfK: What is your favourite space? 

The auditorium, because I spent a lot of time there as a student assistant. I sat up there at the mixing desk and was allowed to adjust the microphone, always with one finger, with the other I knitted in the winter, did some work for my studies and ate something… I still appreciate the size of the space and its possibilities, the smell there and the hum of the technology.

Has the HfK become something like your second home?

Yes, that's why I applied here again. I got a call from my predecessor and wrote my application the next day, it was the only one I sent out after I returned from Uganda. And now I spend a large part of my life at the HfK again. 

So you do not go to work at all, you are just at home here? 

Yes, it's a bit like that. 

So you did not turn your back on the HfK after all? 

No, not yet. I have an open mind. 

Have your expectations been met? 

I knew that the job was difficult and would come with lots and lots of work. I need to set boundaries and value the exchanges with the people here to be able to leave this job in a healthy condition at some point in the future. That is my concern, and one that I still have to fight for. But I have also grown a lot as a person. 

That sounds like stressful work, how do you handle that pressure? 

Cycling to balance things out and just walking through Speicher XI. 

You don't use stimulants in the form of sweets? 

Not anymore, but I used to always raid the HfK snack dispenser, eat up all the Knoppers bars and also kept a locker full of candy. 

What appeals to you as an artist about presenting other people's art or thoughts? 

To provide them these opportunities, to help artists and presenters to get themselves and their work into the public’s eye in the best possible way, while supporting them so that the communication between visitors, artists and works of art does actually happen. 

How prepared are the the people organising events at the HfK? 

It all depends on experience. I've had a few bachelor's presentations where the students had never done an exhibition before. It was really nice to accompany them from the beginning. To see how inexperienced and nervous they really were. And I witnessed how much thought they put into how the opening could turn into a nice evening for everybody attending. I worked very intensively with them. There are some people who approach the matter without any planning. Obviously these are different cases. But these are folks who usually manage to pull off a fine event through improvisation. 

That does not sound as your kind of approach?

 I'm pretty good at it now, whipping something up quickly, that comes with work experience, but I'd rather have everything planned out. Especially with such large projects as the annual exhibition, where I'm the project coordinator and have to look after the event as a whole.

Is that the highlight of the year? 

At least the wildest event of the year. Very big… 

... because of the number of participants? 

Yes, since this year. We usually have around 30, but now there are 56 graduates of the Digital Media and Integrated Design courses who are showing their bachelor's and master's theses.

Where do you put them all? 

When I discovered the number 56 in my email inbox, I could not sleep for two nights and was incredibly worried. After a few crisis meetings, it was decided to expand the exhibition. So we would not only show in Hall 1 of Speicher XI A, but also in the auditorium, the Flut and the Nebenflut. I'm slowly sleeping a little better again and hope that everything works out and that we can give visitors a good introduction to the individual works despite the sheer mass of work. 

What does the exhibition mean for the HfK? 

It is important for the outreach, i.e. that the HfK is present in the city and it also creates awareness nationally. Which is not so easy because we exhibit in the Überseestadt, that is a bit out of the way for many people and not as accessible as the exhibition venues in the city center.

Wandering around aimlessly and looking at exhibitions without a preset interest always lets you discover something unexpected and enriching in the sheer number of objects and thus leads from distraction to a kind of focus. Why should art lovers make the trip to the annual exhibition for this experience? 

The HfK can be experienced as a playground where a lot of artistic experimentation happens and it also presents itself as a platform for young voices in the city because the works on display deal so aptly with what is happening in Bremen and the world. 

The focus is political and centers on social issues? 

Totally! Many works are incredibly of-the-moment and therefore only get finished for the vernissage. 

With the exhibition you boldly take up the diversity of current art production. How do you manage to bring the disparate and different into an overall narrative that sounds as plausible as possible for the exhibition and also in line with the programmatic approaches of the HfK? 

Since we have to appeal to a broad audience, that is also a problem. Or rather: a great challenge. How can 56 works be conveyed to the public? At individual exhibitions of bachelor's and master's theses, visitors have time and space and capacity for one work. The annual exhibition creates this huge overstimulation. Sometimes it is a few seconds of initial viewing that decide whether someone wants to delve into the work and engage with it or not – and just move on. Enabling accessibility is our job. And I am just delighted to have the two curators Elizaveta Kovalenko and Liudmila Savelyeva on the team, who are taking on this challenge so brilliantly and courageously. 

Is that a situation like at a trade fair, this fight for attention? 

You could say that. 

What is new about the 2024 annual exhibition? 

It is running longer than usual. The duration of the shows has always been so frustrating. You work on the exhibition for months and set it up for weeks, and then after three days the whole thing has to be dismantled again. We therefore added a whole week this year and the exhibit will run from November 15th to 24th. 

Dear Lorraine, thank you for this conversation.