City on a River – Ebbs and Flows

The Rhine had a significant impact on Düsseldorf as a city. However, the village was named after the small river Düssel, just as Chemnitz was founded on the Chemnitz River. Industrialisation caused cities to grow, riverbeds were straightened, narrowed, often built over and reduced to trickles. Flood protection and the need for water in cities led to a rethink.

In the exhibition and accompanying programme, artists from the two twin cities showed how they understood the flow and streaming of things and thoughts, the bridging and connecting of opposites, the overcoming of boundaries, migration flows and social developments in the ‘flow of time’. Boats, bridges, images of traces, states and developments were motifs that played a role in the multimedia artistic implementation in the form of objects, sculptures, installations, images, videos and performances.

The exhibition was shown in Chemnitz and Düsseldorf.