The short film shows improvised interventions in the largest clay mining area in the Westerwald region of Germany. By interacting with various symbolic objects around the clay pits, we invite the viewer to follow us through layers of intertwined stories of craftspeople, nature/landscape and industry. What is a clay mine and what can it be?
We were inspired by the dynamic between active and passive, now and then and the imaginative futures of the material clay. Where there is an active mine, nature is on the sidelines. Machines and people dominate the site. When a mine is no longer in use, nature finds its way back. But even the active mine has its silent fauna: small insects in the puddles, grasses and flowers growing on the side of the mines. Who are we in this? Are we intruders? Are we nature? We do not have access to the sites. Like the grass, we try to find a small place to grow. Do ceramic artists have a special understanding of a clay mine? These questions were addressed playfully somewhere between reality and imagination.
