RONIT IN SPACE

Photo: Dennis Eckart

Word: Marina Nikolic

.The more I got to know Ronit, as the time passed, I got more and more impressed about her living her passion and having a festival that is constantly growing. Of course, the magic of the Munich Science & Fiction Festival- Event infected me as well.  It started in a relatively small place called “Einstein-Kultur'' and meanwhile it moved to the prestigious location “Deutsche Museum '' in Munich. Not only in Germany, the festival is also partnered with an event in Moscow, Berlin and the Netherlands.  WEAST Magazine ignites these extraordinary events and the imagination of a very well organized person, Mrs Wolf, in a galaxy full of interaction artists, robots, virtual reality and no end to big ideas. 

Tell us something about your background and career?

I'm a timeless space-girl; generally curious about everything with a background in arts and culture. I studied art, design, storytelling and philosophy and created stories around all the experiences I encounter in my everyday life. Beyond that, I 'm always fond of connecting human beings to the nature of our universe and the fascination of life itself. This is why I often use the – 'what if...? – principle' via Science-Fiction narratives – which is a great pleasure of mine. 

Even now, this is how I connect a load of interesting people. Especially when I started working interdisciplinary at my festivals, events or lectures. As I thought this is the only 'future proof method ' - to work with today.  I often changed cities and places, and never thought about the word career in a say 'mainstreamy' way, or as a matter of fact in a linear way. As I obviously don't care.

Where do you come from originally?

I was born in Germany, Würzburg, a very sleepy town in the midst of Frankonia. Guess this is why I didn’t stay there for too long. So I’m half German and my mothers’ family came from Israel – so the other half is hebrew. Therefore, I was always attached to the Orient; my family has ancestors from Arabia, Egypt, Israel and obviously Germany.

What education have you had? 

I have a Master of fine arts And I've studied everything related to the art scene from design, illustration, storytelling, classical stuff like painting and drawing. Meanwhile, I mixed up a load of stuff digitally and I’m especially a fan of crossovers.

What work experiences did influence you the most?

I had to think about this question for a long time. To be honest, I was always influenced the most by not being part of a corporate company; because I don’t feel good being a part of a commercial clockwork. There was a time when I collected all the expulsions. So, I think the biggest influence is always searching for something different and never staying mentally or formally within the same group.

How did you come up with the idea of doing the Munich Science Fiction Art Festival?

When I relocated from London to Munich, where I lived before, I almost instantly recognized that Munich was a kind of 'terra incognita' in terms of subculture, art or innovative formats. There was nearly nothing exciting in the city, and I was pretty bored. When I started the Science & Fiction Festival in 2013, I was the first one launching an interdisciplinary platform. There were very few people who merged art, science-fiction and science in an entertaining way. Now we inspired a load of copy cats in town. And it seems that it arrived here within the mainstream.

So I thought this could be my purpose for staying in Munich. As my background is rooted within the arts and my curiosity has been pampered by Science-Fiction stories since I was a child; I thought this open minded connectivity of all the worlds would be a good use case for this Bavarian town. So, I simply blended together the forms of my personal highest interest.

So, I simply blended together the forms of my personal 'highest excitement'. The science-sector was new and exciting for me and connected instantly with the festivals' format. Therefore, the Science & Fiction Festival is a blend of Science / Art and Science-Fiction., or what I always say: It's a holistic artwork and a platform for open-minded people. Especially NOT connected to politics or the establishment of the academic art and cultural scene in Munich.

How did it go?

I like the question...it sounds like a recipe-instruction., but there is no such thing. In a way you need a personal credo to start. The motivation has to be good and very strong; especially when you have a lot of throwbacks. My intention was to create a platform where all the invisible good people are being seen.

But I had no idea of the strong coherences between culture and politics in Munich. As I'm always interested in creating content and I see myself as a creative person not a politician; I was indeed never ever interested in political cliquishness. Or either to suck up to anybody – So, the biggest challenge was to find a location and stay tuned with the city. I started within a very small cinema for children in Munich with the first events and the Sci-fi-festival. After the big success of the first event, the department of culture in Munich offered an officially 'unplayable location' to us.

So, I drew a load of attention and interest. The platform attracted as a kind of playground or sandbox-tool not only culture-people but also Sci-fi-Aficionados and Scientists. But nevertheless, I still think...you really have to be crazy like hell creating such a thing in such a conservative town like Munich. After the festival grew within the cultural scene we got sabotaged by the boss of the location., because the event was 'too big' for the former location. The management kicked us out after six years.  And what I learned from that is: Whatever you do, you have the main responsibility for your thing. Munich's art scene is not supportive for people who work autonomously within the sector.  Culture is for the city only an Accessoire of politics and for showing off. So, I concentrated on the fact that it was a 100% audience-festival; we had our fanbase and I moved on because I wanted to give something back to the people.

And now the Deutsches Museum in Munich, a very elegant address?

That's indeed right!  The Deutsches Museum gave us a place directly at the time when the festival got 'too big' for the previous location within the cultural scene in Munich. We also got no more support from the city of Munich or the cultural sector. In a way, the expulsion of the so-called Munich culture scene cleared the way for us to the science sector, and gave us such a great new perspective and creativity – I’m really thankful for that.

Therefore, for me it was a cool deal: The Museum welcomed us and from day one was the so-called 'Mothership' and a getaway spot for our 'peculiar children' we all collected over the years. The Museum is very supportive and curious and likes to fill the gaps with art, science and science-fiction. Even the general director is a big fan of Science-Fiction and art, so the festival found a new home there. The festival is btw. still the only one working directly within the halls of the museum. We don’t have a ‘special place’ or white gallery. We are scattered all over the place .So now we have a yearly slot during the 'Long night of the museum' – which is a very popular event in Munich. In 2022 we will host the 9th edition of the Sci-fi-Festival.

How did it come to do the Festival in Moscow?

That was a kind of experiment, because a load of my friends are from the eastern area. Especially from Russia. So, we asked the German and Russian Embassy for support and they were pretty curious and interested in our project. Especially establishing a Sci-fi Festival in Moscow was a rarity. The Russian people have a big appreciation for Science-Fiction, especially the way literature formed the  audience., So, we did it...during a weird time in Moscow – when corona was ignored by the government and during they attempted an assassination on the Opposition leader and politician Nawalny. 

Nevertheless when you are acting out of a liberal background and created the Festival with care and tolerance; but you are at confronted with homophobic and radical political approaches you really have to overthink if your festival is justifiable in this space and time.

How was it received? 

The audience and the embassies had a big appreciation for the Festival ( we called it the 'Number 7'); the Science-Fiction topic was well received and the festival was an interesting approach –but very difficult.Nevertheless, I think it is extremely important to create like international and creative events as this one -EVEN- and especially in structures with unsecure political environment.

What's next in planning?

I'm planning a few exhibitions in 2022 and like to enforce the line between art and the festival. So, I'd like to connect an art platform that could run more parallel on different locations via the Science-Fiction Festival. There is also the 9th Edition of the Science-Fiction Festival scheduled for October 2022. And some other activities in other cities I’m currently applying for several scholarships. Personally I'd like to work more internationally, as Munich is not a challenge any more for me personally. So I'm lucky for every opportunity that comes up!