City on a River – Ebbs and Flows

Rivers can define cities, as is exemplified by Düsseldorf and the Rhine. What was then a village (the German word for village is »Dorf«)  actually took its name from the little river Düssel, just as Chemnitz was founded by the river Chemnitz. Fuelled by industrialisation, the cities grew – and riverbeds were straightened, narrowed, often built over, and reduced to a trickle. But times are changing. Flood protection and the need for cities to have a secure water supply are prompting a rethink. In the exhibition and accompanying programme, artists from the two partner cities show how they see the flow of objects and thoughts, how opposites can be connected and linked, how borders can be overcome and migration currents and social developments in the »river of time«. Boats, bridges, images of footprints, situations and developments are used as motifs in multimedia artworks that take the form of objects, sculptures, instal­lations, images, videos and perfor­mances. The exhibition will first visit Chemnitz and then Düsseldorf.