Oberhausen
Of course, the question must be allowed of what one is supposed to make of a city whose central focus in the perception of outsiders is to build a shopping mall, which has also been erected near the periphery, because "the inner city is no inner city anymore, but the outskirts" to quote a troubled city manager of the municipality. Whether the shopping centre stamped out of the ground at the "cradle of the Ruhr industry" (in 1758 the first steel mill in the region was put into operation here) is a blessing or a curse, has not yet been decided. The fact is, Oberhausen is affected by structural change like any other city in the area and everyone is looking for ways out of the crisis. After all, about a tenth of its total gross income today comes from visitors to the city – basically the sum of the figures for Centro and Gasometer, Marina and Arena. Nevertheless, the per capita debt of the Oberhausers is high, also in comparison with other Ruhr region cities. If you are looking for contrasts, you will find them here.
Wolfgang Kienast
Marcus Schütte
Early on, Schütte devoted himself to online topics, in the early days of the Web, for example, with the Dieter Nuhr series "Nuhr Internet". This resulted in the founding of NETZKULT, an area for online ...
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Kit.ev
At the end of the 19th century, Oberhausen's Central Station was the main railway junction of the Ruhr area. Since then, much time has passed, parts of the station were closed down and „Kultur im Turm e.V.“ - kitev in short, moved into the former water tower.
First, there was a commission. In 2006, Ateliers Stark from Berlin were selected to design the "Museumsbahnsteig" (Museum Train Platform) at Oberhausen's Central Station with its discarded heavy industry vehicles. The result was a light installation and gigantic figures, cut out of tree trunks by chainsaw.
But after the work had been done, the Berliners did not turn their backs on Oberhausen. "There are such exciting places here and at the same time, there is still so much to do," explains Christoph Stark. "Structural change has not yet been completed in the Ruhr area. The industrial cathedrals have gotten a new use, but we need a second structural change, one that also takes the people along."
Oberhausen Central Station is one of these exciting places. Today's ensemble was created in the 1930s in the New Objectivity style: made out of bricks, simple, straightforward. Its landmark: the water tower that once served the steam locomotives. Today, the tower is the hallmark of kitev, founded by Ateliers Stark immediately after their work on "Museumsbahnsteig", in which they collaborated with project team Tank-FX, who had already made the empty water container hall in the tower available to musicians through an internet programme.
The Tank-FX project does not exist anymore, and there have also been a number of changes: over the period of two years, the interior of the tower has been rebuilt so that new spaces for artistic work and national and international meetings of creatives could be created. The kitev members also worked on this themselves, until in 2013, the building was finally ready. And for what exactly?
On the website, it says: "The tower is a nucleus and a venue for events of high artistic quality as well as a starting point for project-related residencies in the region. The field of experimentation with industrial character always allows possibilities for variable interpretation."
What this means? Let's try to get a clarification.
It is difficult to reach Stark. At the time of the creation of this article, he and his co-workers are busily engaged in "Forum Regionum", in which international artists are to develop and implement ideas for the "Oberhaus" project in the inner city of Oberhausen. Typical kitev. Another one of their projects was "New ideas for old buildings" which explored opportunities for the reuse of vacant residential and retail properties. And "Refugees for co-creative Cities" which dealt with the highly contemporary issues around refugees and migration and interculturality.
These kinds of projects make kitev what it is. Projects that bring together people from different countries and fields. Projects that create art, rebuild culture, create living and work spaces. Make connections. Junctions. Perhaps one should not try to grasp kitev in a formula, but simply understand it as an experimental field. And visit Oberhausen Central Station. Preferably by train. Because trains still stop there. And also, they are building again. Now kitev touches down. The structural change is in full swing.
Text: Anja Kiel
Fotos: Robin Preston, Christoph Stark, Annette Yonak, Vladimir Wegner
Willy-Brandt-Platz 1
46045
http://www.kitev.de
Gasometer Oberhausen
One of the best views over the Ruhr area you can get from the platforms on the roof of the Gasometer in Oberhausen. Those standing on the 117 meters altitude are moving between the times, looking at smoky chimneys and the last active coal mine in the area, as well as at its new qualities: wide green parks and hills, the modern shopping centre CentrO, a ski hall, excursion boats on the Rhine-Herne canal. At least as impressive is the interior of the gasometer, which until 1988 was Europe's largest disc-type gasometer, a gigantic gas storage facility for the surrounding steel mills. In 1994, it was given another use as Europe's highest exhibition centre. Christo and Jeanne-Claude already showed works of art here twice. The exhibition "Wunder der Natur" (Miracles of Nature) shows not only spectacular images of life on our planet, but also of the planet itself. A ball hangs from the ceiling, filling almost the entire width, and is projected onto by an elaborate projection process so that it acts as a rotating earth showing changes in day and night and in weather events. The glass elevator ride to the platform on the roof, which is already an exciting ride, will be an even more unforgettable experience: the visitor flies past the globe and sees a view which would otherwise only be available to astronauts.
Text: Max Florian Kühlem
Innenaufnahmen: Thomas Wolf
Aussenaufnahmen: Thomas Machoczek
Arenastraße 11
46047
http://www.gasometer.de