press release - bauhaus dessau - Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

“Bauhaus ArtInterventions” – Strategies for urban development
Presentation at the Deutsches Studienzentrum in Venedig, 9 th June 2007
On 9th June, on the occasion of the opening of the 52 nd International Art Exhibition, La
Biennale di Venezia, the Foundation will present three artistic projects as strategies for urban
development under the motto “Bauhaus ArtInterventions”: “Mostar 2007”; “DRIVE THRU
Gallery”; “The Aesthetics of Emptiness”.
“Mostar 2007”
After the end of the Bosnian war, Mostar is a divided city, scarred by memories of war and
split along the former battle line between Bosniaks (Muslims) and Bosnian Croats
(Catholics). Numerous local, regional and international NGOs are working on the
development of a civil society, and collaborating on the restoration of urban normality.
This raises the issue of the auspices under which the city can develop its own identity in a
united Europe. Here, art may take on a special role, as it allows a fresh view free of
ideological constraints. Therefore, in collaboration with the Mostar-based artists’ initiatives
Urban Movement Mostar and OKC Abresevic Center Mostar, the Bauhaus project “Mostar
2007” addresses the current situation and offers artistic interventions dealing with the
divisions of the city.
At the core of the concept is the artistic performance “Mostar Triathlon”, which members of
Urban Movement Mostar performed in May: with heavy luggage stamped with the word
“PAST“, the artists, who were dressed in military clothing, climbed, ran and rowed through
the city, thus provoking confrontation with, and an examination of, the past.
Further scheduled activities include “Cross Screening” in public squares and the projection of
a film edited into fragmentary sequences (the “Moving Movie“) onto the walls of buildings.
“DRIVE THRU Gallery”
What development chances do shrinking cities characterised by demographic change and
economic transformation have, given the context of global competition between cities and
regions? Which stabilisation and development strategies are required in such cases? In this
context, art in public spaces provides a great opportunity to show a city under a new light. It
also, therefore, has a chance to play a strategic part in the necessary improvements to the

profile of a city. In Aschersleben, a small city in Saxony-Anhalt, such an attempt is currently
underway. The site is an essentially inhospitable inner city ring marked by noise and dirt. The
housing in the most affected areas is already disused. Historic structures are disintegrating.
A dynamic, rapidly changing space is coming into being.
In this transformation phase, the structural re-coding of the space is achieved by art works
placed alongside the road through the town: the DRIVE THRU Gallery project. This liberates
“public art” from its decorative role and the gallery becomes a space – an exceptional artistic
space – in itself.
The DRIVE THRU Gallery is the first of its kind in Germany. With in excess of 10,000
vehicles per day, the through road has a huge number of visitors. The DRIVE THRU Gallery
aims to make the motorist, while “passing through”, the audience of an artistic space.
A number of different exhibition formats are adapted to the existing building substance. The
aim is to use these as “repairs” to the shrinking city. As such, the windows of empty houses
are used to exhibit art, and are thereby secured and re-valued. Gaps between buildings are
enhanced, and therefore filled, with images or three-dimensional objects. The DRIVE THRU
Gallery is an additive system, which will grow and remain flexible from 2007 to 2010. A first
large-scale art action will see the installation of five large-format prints of paintings by the
British artist Christopher Winter. The originals of his works will be shown simultaneously in
the Neuhoff Gallery in New York.
The DRIVE THRU Gallery project is part of the International Building Exhibition IBA Urban
Redevelopment 2010 Saxony-Anhalt. Curator is the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. The
project DRIVE THRU is supported by the city of Aschersleben and sponsored by the
Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt.
“The Aesthetics of Emptiness”
Emptiness in the urban context is not a clear-cut situation. Empty spaces may be seen as
signs of generosity or of wastefulness and decline. Emptiness is also governed by other
factors: by its history, its atmosphere and the presence, or absence, of public life.
The project in Halberstadt, a city in Saxony-Anhalt, examines the emptiness caused by
shrinkage processes, whereby the fundamental issue is the aesthetics of emptiness. In the
destruction of the 2 nd World War, Halberstadt lost its medieval centre. The city is now
characterised by empty spaces and wide axes. A dwindling population also contributes to the
fact that large sections of urban emptiness have been unused for some time. Here,
emptiness can be a quality if the public accepts its interpretation and design as a challenge.
Under the creative guidance of Detlef Weitz (chezweitz&roseapple, Berlin), individual sites
will be connected by a footpath through Halberstadt, which will provide experiences of the

different aspects of emptiness. Artistic strategies, rather than artworks, will be put to
processual use on this “Vision-training pathway” – so that the urban spaces seen as “empty”
– are reintegrated into the public debate.
The basic idea is to free the empty spaces from everyday patterns of perception with the aid
of simple, but unusually arranged, objects and marking elements. Through this productive
irritation of the viewer, the sites are removed from their original context and lent the air of an
exhibit. In doing so, the public are presented with visual tools, which allow those interested to
experience the emptiness on-site. Visual bridges that bring scarcely visible spatial
relationships into view are erected and again demolished. In Halberstadt, the visualisation of
emptiness will be trained, and its revitalisation debated, in a continuous process.
The project is part of the International Building Exhibition IBA Urban Redevelopment 2010
Saxony-Anhalt. Curator is the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. Concept and realisation of
“Vision-training pathway” and the exhibition “The Aesthetics of Emptiness”: Detlef Weitz,
scenographer, chezweitz & roseapple, Dr. Martin Peschken, literature scholar
The event will be held in English.
Programme
5 p.m.
Welcome
Dr. Uwe Israel
Director of the Deutsches Studienzentrum in Venedig
Introduction
Prof. Dr. Omar Akbar
Director of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
Project Presentations
Wilfried Hackenbroich, Architect, Berlin; Kai Vöckler, Artist, Berlin; Dr. Sonja Beeck,
Architect, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
Commentary
Ute Meta Bauer, Director and Associate Professor, MIT Visual Arts Program, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge; Okwui Enwezor, Dean of Academic Affairs and Senior
Vice President, San Francisco Art Institute

Venue:
Deutsches Studienzentrum in Venedig
S. Polo 2765/a
30125 Venedig
Date:
9 th June 2007, Begin 5 p.m.
Pressereferentin:
Dr. Annette Zehnter
Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau
Gropiusallee 38
06846 Dessau
Tel. 0340 6508225
Fax: 0340 6508226
E-Mail: zehnter@bauhaus-dessau.de
www.bauhaus-dessau.de