For some, this age is still the Holocene (the post-glacial age), for others it is already the Anthropocene (the age of man). In any case, since their appearance on earth, humans have not only hunted animals, gathered berries, made fire and cultivated plants, but also built huts - and do not stop there. At the same time, they are changing the climate with their gross settlements.
Under the focus Cultivate! the Center for Literature deals with different processes of building, rebuilding and cultivating.
Firstly, the question of how people express their ideas in architectural forms. Or - thinking the other way around: How do buildings - castles, skyscrapers, semi-detached houses, churches, museums, schools - influence us? How do we act in the face of the buildings that surround us? But also: How do they make us act? And: In which language do we speak about these architectures?
Secondly, we address the concrete reconstruction that will take place at Hülshoff Castle in the coming years. The outer castle and other parts of the building will be rebuilt and extended. Is the castle itself thus once again temporary, provisional? Yes. And while it is being materially rebuilt, the team and the public are building a new and novel institution together. There is no reason to draw a curtain in front of these reconstruction processes and say: "Construction is going on behind it. Let's rather watch the building process together.
Thirdly, cultivation! also includes the cultivation of plants, which has been practiced at Hülshoff in various forms since at least the early 19th century, and which brings us to ecology in general. What exactly is man still in an age in which nature, with catastrophes, again reveals itself to be the real queen of the planet? And what does this mean for poetry? Do we need to sit in nature and talk to it? Or even, as the lyricist Daniel Falb demands, rather accompany the climate conferences, politicians' summits, NGO actions, i.e. "go to places where the actual ecology takes place" (Daniel Falb)?