Plein air sessions in the spa
How to illustrate the concept of the heterotopos?

The European Spa Project co-operates with the Hamburger Technische Kunstschule HTK. Principal Investigator Henrike Schmidt and the HTK lecturer for Experimental Illustration, the Hamburg artist Gaby Bergmann, are working together in a seminar on the subject of spa resorts. The students, future communication designers, are creatively investigating the health resort as social space where different freedoms and rules are at work. They face the challenge of translating the difficult concept of the "heterotopos" ("an other place"), as developed by the French philosopher Michel Foucault, into images. Part of the work is taking place "plein air": during visits to the historic Holthusenbad in Hamburg and the traditional Baltic seaside resort of Travemünde. Highlight of the visit in Travemünde: We were allowed to have a drawing session in the historical casino and ballroom, where once Fyodor Dostoevsky tried his luck and Thomas Mann had his characters enjoy themselves. Thanks to the Holthusenbad and the Grand Hotel Travemünde - ATLANTIC Hotels for opening their facilities for us.