An Engine Running on Empty: Sven Marquardt's new Photo Series addresses sweeping Funding Cuts in the Culture Sector - KALTBLUT Magazine

"Germany's young creative talents find themselves in a chokehold of diminishing government funding to educational and outreach programmes, threatening to undermine long-standing institutions as well as the renewed international interest in its fashion industry. The mood is decidedly depressed at University of the Arts ( ) in Berlin, one of Germany's leading arts universities. Funding cuts across all of the city's publicly financed cultural and arts programmes have left the school depleted in staff and its facilities' opening hours."

"A recently published campaign, shot by photographer Sven Marquardt in collaboration with , takes a stand against these cuts into Berlin's creative talent development. "What would we do if there was no theatre, no photography, no music? It's as though they're closing the doors on creativity", says Kathy de Siqueira, co-founder of PLATTE, a concept store and platform offering retail spaces, financial and mentoring support to emerging designers. The photo series features the Berlin store's first own sustainable apparel line co-produced with Gaëlle Martin and locally based from certified organic cotton, designed in collaboration with artist ."

"Reflecting the creative industry's current struggles, the messaging revolves around five keywords, each represented by a character from the creative industry. Artist stands as and the tension between community, exhaustion and self-realisation, while as gives a voice to the city's world-famous club culture. , a painter, gives meaning to and the cultural silence that will follow the intentional starving of the scene. The musician i represents - the dominating sentiment amongst young creatives who feel"

Government funding cuts to educational and outreach cultural programmes are weakening arts institutions and limiting resources for students and emerging creatives across Germany. University of the Arts in Berlin faces staff reductions and reduced facility hours, undermining student projects and graduation presentations. A campaign photographed by Sven Marquardt and supported by PLATTE highlights the immediate impact on talent development and promotes a sustainable apparel collaboration with Gaëlle Martin. Messaging in the campaign uses five keywords embodied by creative figures to symbolise community tensions, club culture, creative exhaustion, cultural silence, and the prevailing sentiment among young creatives.

Read at KALTBLUT Magazine