The structural change in view
"Vom Leben in Industrielandschaften - Den Strukturwandel im Blick" is the second part of an exhibition project that began in fall/winter 2019/2020 with the exhibition "Vom Leben in Industrielandschaften - Eine fotografische Bestandsaufnahme" (A photographic stocktaking). This presentation was about approaching the manifestations of industrially shaped landscapes by means of the indexical and conceptual qualities of photography.
The starting motif of the two-part exhibition project "On Life in Industrial Landscapes" is the painting "The Lendersdorf Rolling Mill" (1838) by Carl Schütz, which is iconic for the collection of the Leopold-Hoesch-Museum. "The Lendersdorf Rolling Mill" is a typical example of the pronounced self-confidence and the way of self-portrayal of industrialist families at the time of early industrialization. To this day, the landscape around Düren, between Garzweiler and the reservoirs of the Eifel, is characterized by its industrial use. The project "Vom Leben in Industrielandschaften" (Of Life in Industrial Landscapes) is an invitation to engage with one's own perceptions of this landscape, with the contradictory and complex spaces that open up between open-cast mines, power plants and high-voltage pylons, paper mills, sugar beet fields and the nearby Tihange nuclear power plant.
The exhibition "Vom Leben in Industrielandschaften - Den Strukturwandel im Blick," which is scheduled to open in October 2021 and is being developed in cooperation with the Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art in Cottbus, directly addresses the issues associated with the end of lignite mining and structural change in both cities. Both Lusatia and the Eifel and Rhenish Plain are cultural landscapes that have developed over centuries. Yet they are shaped by different histories. Different experiences have been made in both places. By means of international historical and contemporary artistic works, the exhibition invites visitors to engage with these experiences, which also enable comparisons with other places in the world.
