GKM at the Botanikum: the summer day stays in the office

GKM celebrated its summer day at the Botanikum in Munich. The painting took place in the large greenhouse, barefoot on the lawn. Individual pictures in 50×70 format came out of it, plus five large pictures, each tied to one department.

The task

A summer day is a thankless date for planners. Everyone is in a good mood, nobody wants a programme, and still more should be left over in the evening than a few empty glasses. A side programme you can click away does not solve that.

The place set the direction. The Botanikum in Munich has a large greenhouse, internally called the grass house, with lawn on the floor. A room like that does not tolerate rows of chairs.

What we built

We turned the greenhouse into a workshop. People worked barefoot on the lawn, with drinks within reach. Three techniques ran side by side so that nobody is forced into a way of working that does not suit them. Whoever needs pace ends up at the action painting. Whoever is looking for a shape, at the graffiti. And whoever simply wants to start without knowing beforehand where it is going paints freely and abstractly.

Each person built their own graffiti in 50×70 format. In parallel five larger pictures took shape, each tied to one department of the company:

• General Management, including the executive board, Business Development and QS Finance/Administration
• Data Management
• Medical Advising and Clinical Safety
• Project Management
• Biostatistics

This cut makes the difference. Whoever helps build their department's picture does not paint just any motif but their own team.

The result

The artworks serve as office decoration and as a memory of the summer day. That separates an event that is forgotten by Monday from one that is visible again every day.

For us it was a very successful summer day.

What you take from this for your planning

If your summer party takes place at an unusual location, that is not a problem but the lever. A greenhouse with a lawn works better as a painting space than any conference room, because people immediately move differently in it.

Second: if something is meant to last, give the pieces a reference. Five departments here made five pictures. That is just as easy to plan beforehand as an anonymous motif and has a much longer effect afterwards.

And the question that always comes first with summer dates, because everyone turns up in summer clothes: with us nobody gets dirty. Graffiti is cleaner than you think. We still bring gloves and covers.