?Shrinking Cities ? International research?
September 4, to November 7, 2004
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststraße 69, 10117 Berlin-Mitte
November 19, 2005 to January 29, 2006
?Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kultur?
Halle-Neustadt train station
Albert-Einstein-Str. 41, 06122 Halle (Saale).
 | |
 | |
| |
 | |
| |
 | |
| |
 | |
| |
 | |
| |
 | |
Fotos: Rainer Jordan |
Artists, architects, filmmakers, graphic artists, journalists, and cultural and social scientists developed more than 60 works for the project. The themes the teams were dealing with range from the neglect and appropriation of spaces, through changed practices of daily life, survival strategies, and new forms of work, to the development of innovative subcultures and criticism of existing planning cultures. After the projects ?Hotel Neustadt? and ?International Summer School?, ?Shrinking Cities? was the first international exhibition held in the Halle-Neustadt train station, which was shut down in 2003 ? another impetus for a Center for Contemporary Culture in Halle (Saale).
A first version of the exhibition was on view in 2004 in the KW ? Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin. Public interest in the exhibition was great: more than 18,000 visitors came to the KW ? Institute for Contemporary Art between September and November 2004, and 3,400 guests took part in the more than 40 accompanying events (Shrinking Cities Film, Shrinking Cities Music, Shrinking Cities Literature, and many more). The exhibition also attracted much international interest. Press reports appeared in the USA, France, Britain, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland (New York Times, Newsweek, L?espresso, etc.).
At the Berlin exhibition, the ca. 60 works were on display on five storeys (total surface: 1,500 m2). A wide range of different artistic and research formats were in evidence. Along with maps and diagrams, photo series, installations, and video and visual works were presented. The works approached the topic on the micro as well as on the macro level. Interviews with locals, devices from everyday life, and artistic works from the regions will find their place beside world-spanning statistical studies. In Halle, the exhibition is shown in updated form and in cooperation with local actors.
The exhibition was curated by Philipp Oswalt (Chief Curator) and the curatorial team of Nikolaus Kuhnert (from the magazine archplus in Berlin), Kyong Park (International Center for Urban Ecology, Detroit), Walter Prigge (Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau), Barbara Steiner (Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst [gallery for contemporary art], Leipzig) and eight local curators.
Exhibition design: Meyer Voggenreiter Projekte, Köln with Sebastian Hauser and Claudia Hoffmann; Graphic Exhibition: 1kilo, Berlin; Graphic: Stephan Müller and Tanja Wesse, Berlin.
The exhibition Shrinking Cities in Fall 2004 at the KW - Institute for Contemporary Art (formerly: Kunst-Werke) aimed to confront a broad audience with the topic by displaying the changed cultural reality in shrinking cities. In preparation for this, since Winter 2002, local interdisciplinary teams in the sites Detroit (USA), Manchester / Liverpool (Britain), Ivanovo (Russia) and Halle / Leipzig (Germany) locals have been commissioned to investigate and document processes of urban shrinkage.
Artists, architects, filmmakers, graphic artists, journalists, and cultural and social scientists have developed more than 60 works for the project. The themes the teams are dealing with range from the neglect and appropriation of spaces, through changed practices of daily life, survival strategies, and new forms of work, to the development of innovative subcultures and criticism of existing planning cultures.
At the Berlin exhibition, the ca. 60 works were on display on five storeys (total surface: 1,500 m2). A wide range of different artistic and research formats were in evidence. Along with maps and diagrams, photo series, installations, and video and visual works were presented. The works approached the topic on the micro as well as on the macro level. Interviews with locals, devices from everyday life, and artistic works from the regions will find their place beside world-spanning statistical studies.
The resulting cross-references, which reveal what is common to shrinking cities as well as their individual characteristics, placed regional practices in the course of urban shrinkage within a superordinated context and emphasized that urban shrinkage is a global problem and an opportunity for cultural renewal.
Public interest in the exhibition was great: in excess of 18,000 people came to the KW Institute for Contemporary Art between September and November 2004; 3,400 guests partook in the more than 40 adjunct events (Shrinking Cities Film, Shrinking Cities Musik, Shrinking Cities Literatur, etc.). The exhibition was also met with great interest internationally. Press reports appeared among other places in the USA, France, Great Britain, Italy, Austria and Switzerland (New York Times, Newsweek, L`espresso, etc.).
The exhibition was curated by Philipp Oswalt (Chief Curator) and the curatorial team of Nikolaus Kuhnert (from the magazine archplus in Berlin), Kyong Park (International Center for Urban Ecology, Detroit), Walter Prigge (Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau), Barbara Steiner (Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst [gallery for contemporary art], Leipzig) and eight local curators.
Exhibition design: Meyer Voggenreiter Projekte, Köln with Sebastian Hauser and Claudia Hoffmann; Graphic Exhibition: 1kilo, Berlin; Graphic: Stephan Müller and Tanja Wesse, Berlin.
After the overture in Berlin, the next stations for the exhibition are being prepared in Halle, Bristol, Moscow, and Dusseldorf. At the same time, the project Shrinking Cities is working on a follow-up exhibition to be shown in Leipzig starting in November 2005. The thematic emphases of the second exhibition will be concepts for action and innovative approaches to solutions that show examples of prospects for culturally dealing with shrinking cities.
Downloads /// General information about the exhibition (pdf)
Short Guide (pdf)