beyond

Arts and Urban Spaces // Guilt and Shame

Together with artists from Cologne and Kyiv, we will transform the urban space in Cologne into a public gallery and a place of encounter and exchange. In collaboration with the Ukrainian platform TU Mariupol, we are creating a combination of live music, exhibition and video art on the theme of ‘Guilt and Shame’.   

// voices of ukraine // visuals of ukraine //

Posters, banners, billboards: they characterise our cityscape and influence us - often unconsciously.  We make use of this! We see the city as a gallery and advertising spaces as picture frames:

In a public exhibition, we show works by Ukrainian artists who are sometimes unable, not allowed or unwilling to leave Ukraine. In this way, we offer random viewers a look at the topic of ‘Guilt and Shame’ from a Ukrainian perspective. We want to create unplanned moments to stop and reflect - at building fences, kiosks, advertising pillars, subways, railway entrances and exits.

...watch out!

// encountering // connecting the dots //

Our everyday lives quickly make us forget what is happening elsewhere in the world and in Europe. What does the everyday life of a person near the Ukrainian front look like? What are the common themes? Where, how and when can we meet - without a physical location? We combine Ukrainian and German perspectives by turning everyday places into scenery:

With a walk-in performative installation at the S-Bahn station in Cologne-Kalk, we initiate intensive and intimate short encounters between people from Ukraine and passers-by in Cologne. ks, advertising pillars, subways, railway entrances and exits.

...come around!  

// music // video installation //

The railway arch at the S-Bahn station in Cologne-Kalk is transformed into a public installation exhibition space: performative elements, music and video art invite visitors to engage with the topic of ‘Guilt & Shame’ in a sensual way.

Our ideas and prejudices, collective elements of guilt and shame or the staging of guilt through public ‘shaming’: the Ukrainian and German artists embark on a personal, historical and political search for the causes and effects of ‘guilt and shame’. 

...listen & take a look!  

// context // Background // information

bridgeworks is working together with the Ukrainian Platform TU Mariupol to find artistic ways to collaborate and meet. Even before 24 February 2022, we held initial talks with Diane Berg, founder of the Plattform TU cultural centre in Mariupol. Together, we developed ideas on what German-Ukrainian cooperation could look like and which thematic focuses we would like to choose. We are all aware of the events that followed at the end of February. Confronted with the situation, we tried to find ways together to continue our cooperation.

After almost a year of different collaborative projects, we are consciously focussing on public space in various dimensions with ‘Arts and Urban Spaces // Guilt and Shame’. Guilt and shame are complex, deeply rooted emotions that characterise our actions, decisions and relationships. They often arise from a feeling of powerlessness in the face of private and global developments.

 With the ‘Arts and Urban Spaces’ project, we want to redefine spaces - at a time when global developments and crises are alienating many people and it is becoming increasingly difficult to develop clear attitudes, discuss them and translate them into concrete action. With this project, we invite passers-by to stop, look, think and interact.    

Team

ARTISTIC DIRECTION Felix Banholzer // CONSULTING UKRAINE Diana Berg // VIDEO Mirko Borscht // PERFORMANCE Serafyma Brig // CONCEPT AND CURATION Viola Hilbing // SOUND Daria Veshtak // WITH Nastya Bebee / Yelyzaveta Chornomorets 

The project is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne.

With the kind support of Ströer and Artists Support Ukraine.