2-3 Streets
An Exhibition in the Cities of the Ruhr by Jochen Gerz
2-3 Streets in Sankt-Johann-Strasse, Duisburg / Photo: Rainer Krause
The public artwork 2-3 Streets by Jochen Gerz highlights streets in the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 that are neither beautiful nor out of the ordinary - anonymous side roads such as can be found in any city or town and typical of post-war German cities with their blocks of apartments, shops and garages that get no mention in the town guide. The participating municipalities of Duisburg, Dortmund and Mülheim an der Ruhr have selected just such a number of nondescript streets and, at the end of 2009, handed them over as the site of a public art exhibition.
In each street, some of the apartments were made available to new tenants rent-free for a year. The majority of the flats will, however, continue to house those tenants who were living there before the exhibition. In this changed social situation, the cultural and creative presence of the newcomers impacts the habits and lifestyles of the established residents. Visitors to the exhibition experience the changing atmosphere of the street, to which they themselves are inevitably contributing.
The end result of the exhibition will therefore be a change in the streets concerned. A further outcome is a book written jointly by the new and old tenants in the three streets, and also those visiting the 2-3 Streets exhibition, and this will be published by a literary publishing house after 2010. In addition to the apartments, there are also internet cafés in the area in which those visiting the exhibition are able to take direct part in the 2-3 Streets project by contributing to the book’s text. The streets, the activities within them, and the comings and goings at the internet terminals and in the apartments of the "authors" are all constituent parts of the exhibition. While the subject remains life on a "normal" street, visitors to the exhibition experience a changing reality both for themselves and for those more intimately involved with those streets.
Jochen Gerz counts among the internationally best known German artists of the present day. With his works in the public arena particularly, he has radically changed the relationship between art and observer. Crossing social boundaries, the processes he puts in train create a new public awareness – not least because members of the public are themselves required to fill the role of author. The individual thus ceases to be a member of the audience and instead becomes part of the artistic work as it evolves.all yearDortmund, Duisburg, Mülheim an der Ruhr Visits to meet authors in their apartments can be arranged, streets freely accessible Admission free
Partners: State Chancellery for Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia (Staatskanzlei für Kultur des Landes NRW), the Ministry of Building and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Ministerium für Bau und Verkehr NRW), the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Mittelstand und Energie des Landes NRW), the cities involved and the housing associations; the Arts Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia (Kunststiftung NRW) is supporting the publication of the book.
You can find further information at:www.en.2-3strassen.eu