Landscapes of an Ongoing Past
MARTA DYACHENKO, JANA GUNSTHEIMER, NIKITA KADAN, ZHANNA KADYROVA, NINO KVRIVISHVILI, FEDIR TETIANYCH, DRIANT ZENELI, ULI GOLUB, YURI YEFANOV
An Exhibition in Search of Past and Future Utopias
It is only through a human perspective that nature becomes a landscape into which meanings may be inscribed. Past events continue to have an effect, and landscapes can embody memories, fears or longings.
Since 2001, The Palace of Projects by the internationally renowned artist couple Ilya & Emilia Kabakov has been installed in the Salzlager (salt warehouse) of the UNESO world heritage site Zeche Zollverein, a preserved coal mine and industrial processing complex. In loose correspondence with this project, the exhibition Landscapes of an Ongoing Past shows historical and contemporary works by artists from former socialist Eastern Europe, which examine landscapes that are either still developing or in the process of disappearing. They explore questions of artisanal and industrial production, explore traces of unrealized utopias or reflect on the relationship between architecture and nature. With the work of the representative of the Ukrainian avant-garde Fedir Tetianych (who died in 2007 in Kiev), the exhibition not only addresses the conditions of artistic production at the time of the Soviet Union, but also juxtaposes the Palace of Projects with another historical design for a futuristic utopia.
In commenting on the post-industrial landscapes of the Ruhr region, Landscapes of an Ongoing Past uses all the means available to art - sometimes seductive, sometimes disturbing - to explore the state of the present between decay and hope.
An exhibition conceived by Urbane Künste Ruhr in cooperation with the Zollverein Foundation for Ruhrtriennale. "The Palace of Projects" is the property of the Foundation for the Preservation of Industrial Monuments and Historical Culture and is on permanent loan to the Zollverein Foundation.
„How a society deals with its resources is reflected in the infrastructures it develops. As built forms, these constitute a kind of landscape. Utopian ideas emerge within these landscapes, manifesting themselves in the built structures or lingering in drawings and stories.“
Cast
- Technical Project Manager Ruhrtriennale
- Sebastian Rietz
- Technician
- Jasper Gather ,
- Arvid Christian Lemke
Workshops
The exhibition will be accompanied by a varied programme. In workshops, children, young people and adults will have the opportunity to engage intensively with the works and themes of the exhibition, try out different working techniques themselves and share their experiences with other workshop participants.
In guided tours, the curators Alisha Raissa Danscher, Tatiana Kochubinska and Yevheniia Moliar and our trained education team provide an insight into the themes and the development of the exhibition and invite visitors to explore it together.
Participation in workshops and guided tours is free of charge.
Directions and arrival
Salzlager, Kokerei Zollverein
Heinrich-Imig-Straße 11
45141 Essen
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