Based in Vienna, this group
of activist artists has been working together since 1993. They leverage 34 35 the resources of art world institutions-museums, for example-to devise concrete means of addressing specific social problems. Their projects always involve a residency of up to eight weeks; during that time they bring diverse groups of people together to develop solutions to the problem under consideration. Their name translates as "Weeks of Closure" and describes the intense, productive time of the residency. WochenKlausur creates small-scale but long-term solutions; in their words, "artistic creativity is no longer seen as a formal act but as an intervention into society."

Recently WochenKlausur has established several small-scale initiatives to upcycle materials into useful new objects. (Upcycling is a process in which waste materials are put to new uses without being broken down into component parts; for example, transforming stoplight glass into red, yellow, or green vases.) Their project for Beyond Green-their first residency in the United States-builds on this prior work. While in Chicago for three weeks during the summer of 2005, WochenKlausur members worked closely with a group of University of Chicago students and other volunteers to research and implement an initiative to upcycle byproducts of museum exhibitions, theatrical productions, and other waste materials. During the residency, they set up a temporary studio/office on campus in Midway Studios, the historic building that houses the Department of Visual Arts. From that home base, they compiled a network of potential collaborators and conducted a test upcycling effort: they designed, built, and delivered furniture to a Chicago women's shelter.

WochenKlausur's projects are unabashedly instrumental, and they work to develop solutions that can continue without their involvement after the residency ends. In Chicago they started a new entity called Material Exchange, which will continue the work of linking waste materials, designers and design students, and people in need. Four students from the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who collaborated with WochenKlausur during their residency have taken on the leadership of this new organization and have already begun work on several upcycling projects, including a trial partnership with a Chicago design school and the production of the furniture used in Beyond Green. Thus the conversations and collaborations that comprise the heart of every WochenKlausur residency are already generating lasting, sustainable networks and alliances among the participants. Material Exchange is the primary result of their work, but the project is also represented within the exhibition through drawings, a documentary DVD, and the upcycled exhibition furniture.