An exhibition and research project of Urbane Künste Ruhr and MAP Markus Ambach Projekte along the A 40, from Duisburg to Dortmund
June 14–September 7, 2014
Locations: Duisburg, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Bochum, Dortmund
(Ruhr region, Germany)
Opening: June 14, 2014, 6pm
Eichbaumgold
U-Bahnhof Eichbaum
Kruppstraße/ Gneisenaustraße
45472 Mülheim an der Ruhr
Germany
Along the “grand road” A40 between Duisburg and Dortmund, an idiosyncratic urban space has developed that like hardly any other reflects and links the Ruhr Region, at the same time revealing highly precarious living situations.
Where the B1 developed with unpredictable severity to become an Autobahn, this resulted in difficult urban and living spaces. While the Ruhr Cities melt together, the A40 suddenly becomes the boulevard of the cultural metropolis Ruhr. Since politicians hardly offer any solutions, the residents find their very own ways of using the spaces that emerged.
Since 2010, B1|A40 has been exploring this city space in an interdisciplinary dialog with artists, planners, architects, and academics. Strategies of individual space appropriation, the cultural heterogeneity of the landscape, and the endless inventiveness of its residents are the focus of this exhibition project, which is entirely located in the public space.
After the successful first phases of the exhibition in the framework of the European capital of culture RUHR.2010, Urbane Künste Ruhr and Markus Ambach Projekte once again invite you to discover The Beauty of the Grand Road.
This year, new sites move to the center of interest: the complex terrain between highway, farm, and subway in the area around the U18 station Eichbaum in Mühlheim an der Ruhr, the cultural intersection between church, brothel, SM club, and garden colony in the area of Bochum Schlachthof, precarious residences in Essen-Frillendorf, the surroundings between painterly village idyll and the highway in Dortmund under the Schnetterbrücke, and Kaiserberg junction in Duisburg as an idiosyncratically growing, auto-productive landscape.
Various formats lead though this multifarious space. Artistic works are combined with local ideas and the projects of people on site. Hiking trails, bus tours and other guided tours link the different elements and form a unique choreography between landscape, art, and everyday culture. Culinary pleasures, concerts, theater performances, and lectures accompany the exhibition.
Those who stop and look around can discover a landscape that invents itself anew each day—unique, resistant, and endlessly creative.
Participating artists: Danica Dakić, Michael Fehr, Manuel Franke, Jeanne Van Heeswijk/ Britt Jürgensen, Leni Hoffmann, Christine und Irene Hohenbüchler, Mauricio Kagel, Allan Kaprow, Jakob Kolding, Elke Krasny, KUNSTrePUBLIK, Volker Lang, John Miller, My!Laika, Gabriela Oberkofler, Christian Odzuck, Performance Electrics, Martin Pfeifle und Wanda Sebastian, raumlaborberlin, Christa Reicher/ Ilka Mecklenbrauck, Wolf Vostell, Ruhr-Casino Bochum, Tunermeeting Dückerweg, Autobahnkirche Bochum, Museum Berggate 69, and Landschaftspark B1IA40.
A project of Urbane Künste Ruhr and MAP Markus Ambach Projekte