Workshops 2025

On connection

This year, four workshops will be held in cooperation with VHS Ratingen. You can find more information and register via the VHS Ratingen website, or send an email to mail@parrotsandswans.com. All artists will present elements of their work as part of a public programme.

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Speaking Images
with Tachi and Anne Schülke
at Berliner Platz, Ratingen-West
Thursday, 7 August 2025; 14 August 2025; 21 August 2025; 28 August 2025
5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Participants: Unlimited
Free of charge

Together with Tachi and Anne Schülke, you will write poems and short texts about your relationship with the large housing estate in Ratingen-West. Tachi is a musician and one of the founders of the hip-hop group “Fresh Familee”; he lives in Ratingen. Anne Schülke is an artist based in Düsseldorf. Both grew up in Ratingen-West and will share their perspectives on the neighbourhood with you. Using archive photos, aerial images, memories and rumours as a starting point, you will create your own texts in the group and develop images to accompany them.

Each workshop begins with walks through West and ends with reading circles. In between, you'll work with pencils and paper, AI and tablets, found texts and scissors – or use dictation apps and smartphones.

The workshop offers space to talk about experiences of discrimination. You are warmly invited to share these in the group. At the same time, you are expected to show sensitivity and awareness for marginalised groups: there is no place here for racism, antisemitism, sexism, classism, transphobia or homophobia.

Get to know Tachi and Anne Schülke and their working methods during a preparatory walk. You’ll also learn more about the workshop locations.
Date: Thursday, 31 July 2025, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Meeting point: Berliner Platz, Ratingen-West (in case of rain: Jugendclub West)

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Surviving the Cold
with Tanja Kodlin
at Schwanen Teich, Ratingen-West
Wednesday, 20 August; Thursday, 21 August; Friday, 22 August; Saturday, 23 August 2025
5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Participants: This workshop is aimed at all women and girls who enjoy movement and exchange. No prior experience is required.
Free of charge

Tanja Kodlin invites you to discover Schwanen Teich and your relationships with others from the perspective of a non-human creature – the animal. The starting point is an exploration of the ways animals freeze: why and how do animals become still? What roles do fear, hibernation or protective mechanisms play? What can we humans learn from these survival strategies? Using body and voice, you will explore the behaviour and posture of frozen animals, translate them into your own forms of expression and seek ways to break through these states. You’ll reflect on emotional isolation and proximity-distance dynamics in everyday urban life, using voice as a connecting element to create moments of encounter and connection.

You’ll design wearable objects made of paper, inspired by “animal clothing” such as shells, feathers, skin and homes. You’ll fold, tear, cut, glue, sew, staple or weave. You’ll experiment with body, movement and voice, do body awareness exercises and dance techniques, and explore movement qualities and body positions based on frozen animal behaviour. At the end of the workshop, you’ll present your findings in a performative setting at the pond.

Get to know Tanja Kodlin and her working approach during a preparatory walk.
Date: Monday, 14 July 2025, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Meeting point: Berliner Platz, Ratingen-West (in case of rain: Jugendclub West)

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At the Pulse
with Daria Nazarenko
at Berliner Platz, Ratingen-West
Wednesday, 20 August; Thursday, 21 August; Friday, 22 August; Saturday, 23 August 2025
5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Participants: No prior experience required – open to all ages! – Curiosity, openness and a desire to move are enough!
Free of charge

How does a gesture become a dance? What movements lie in our daily routines – and how can they become artistic expression?

In this creative dance workshop, we dive curiously into everyday movements and gestures, asking how they might become dance. Together, we explore the movements and sounds of public space. Inspired by the rhythm of passers-by and the sounds of Berliner Platz, we find new ways to interpret urban everyday life through dance. Drawn to this rhythm, we listen closely to the noises that might form a symphony – and consider how we might interpret them.

Each workshop day starts with a group warm-up and ends in small teams where different improvisational methods from various dance styles are tested and developed further.

Get to know Daria Nazarenko and her working methods during a preparatory walk.
Date: Thursday, 31 July 2025, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Meeting point: Berliner Platz, Ratingen-West (in case of rain: Jugendclub West)

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Plant Consultation: A Drawing Encounter with Your Favourite Plant
with Oliver Gather
at the senior centre Ratingen-West
Thursday, 14 August; or Thursday, 21 August; or Thursday, 28 August 2025
3:30 – 5:30 p.m. or 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Each session can be booked individually
Participants: 5 to 20 per session
Free of charge

Do you live with plants? Do you have a special relationship with one of your houseplants?

In this workshop, we will speak with and about your plant. Together, we’ll approach it in an unusual way – using pencil and ink. You will create simple, personal drawings. Artist Oliver Gather will draw your favourite plant for you – and invite you to do the same.

No prior experience is required.
Please bring your houseplant with you.

Special offer: home visit. Outside regular sessions, home visits are also available, during which Oliver Gather will get to know your plant in its everyday environment.
To arrange this, please call 0176 2200 4726.

Get to know Oliver Gather and his working approach during a preparatory walk.
Date: Monday, 14 July 2025, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Meeting point: Berliner Platz, Ratingen-West (in case of rain: Jugendclub West)