Emscher Art 2010
An Island for the Arts
Walking House / Photo: Emschergenossenschaft/ N55
The biggest art project of the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 begins at the end of May. It is scheduled to last 100 days and, under the name "Emscher Art 2010" will be on show at the chosen site of Emscher Island, a venue that could hardly be more unusual.
The sights along the Emscher have, for many a year, represented the least attractive side of the Ruhr region. So it is specifically here that, for the last 20 years, a huge project has been underway under the auspices of the Emscher Association in order to regenerate the River Emscher while at the same time creating a prototype of cooperative regional planning.
The International Building Exhibition Emscher Park of the 1990s established the framework for transforming the landscape and redefining a huge swathe of land now known as the Emscher Landscape Park. And now this process is being continued with the Emscher transformation project. Along the Emscher and its subsidiaries, concrete-lined wastewater channels are being renaturised as revitalised streams - in what is currently the largest renaturisation project in the world. Difficult to imagine? Those who still today do not believe it are invited to see for themselves the "Wonder of the Emscher" in 2010. Emscher Island is at the heart of the New Emscher Valley. The narrow stretch of land between the Emscher and the Rhine-Herne Canal extends 34 kilometres between Castrop-Rauxel and Oberhausen.
The "Emscher Art 2010" project to be held in the cultural capital year heralds an exhibition that will enable visitors to experience for themselves this changing space. 40 artists are to create 20 works employing different skills and disciplines. At the most unusual locations on the island, for example at the sluice gates, in the canal or on industrial wasteland, visitors will come across such widely varied items as a "hobby twitter" ornithological station, a "singing" rock, a community garden and even an itinerant Punch-and-Judy show. Internationally renowned artists such as Rita McBridge, Jeppe Hein, Tobias Rehberger or Tadashi Kawamata, plus students of the Münster Academy of Art, have taken on the responsibility of providing the site with meaningful content.
In the exhibition organised by curator Florian Matzner, art in public spaces with an urban slant and also aspects of garden/horticultural art and landscaping will all have a role to play.
2010 will also see, for example, the creation of a monumental wall mosaic on the outer shell of the former digestion tower in Herne (Silke Wagner) and a sunken garden in a former sewage treatment basin in Bottrop (Piet Oudolf and Eelco Hooftman). Many projects are being devised not only for viewing but also for participation and creative involvement. The exhibition can be reached by boat, bicycle and car.
The European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 will see the start of an exhibition which, as a biennial in the following years, will celebrate the entire New Emscher Valley in the centre of the Ruhr Metropolis with high-quality art projects. "Emscher Art 2010" will also extend beyond the cultural capital year, making a permanent contribution to the structural change taking place in the Ruhr Metropolis and to the theme of "Art in Public Spaces".
The exhibition will be opened by the Minister-President of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of a gala ceremony to be held on 29 May 2010.
Island Tour
Far from being uninhabited, the Emscher Island boasts housing, parkland, allotments, sports facilities and many adventure, rest and recuperation possibilities ready to be discovered. And from April 2010, previously "uncharted" areas of the island are to be made more readily accessible with existing facilities being supplemented by new zones of tranquility, vantage points and, designed by Herne artist Beate Matkey, a number of delightful picnic areas. A continuous, 44 kilometre long network of paths interlinks these sites and facilities of the island with those of the "Emscher Art 2010" exhibition and the "Culture Canal" experience. A cycling tour map and a signage system along the path will ensure that no one loses their way.
May 29 - September 5,2010
10 am - 7 pm
Curator: Prof. Dr. Florian Matzner
Emscher Island permanently open on a daily basis
Admission free
Partners: Emscher Association, Regionalverband Ruhr, State Chancellery NRW, MUNLV NRW, MBV NRW
Main project sponsor: Kramer Bauunternehmung GmbH + Co KG
Related topics:
Culture Canal
Tadashi Kawamata