URBAN LIGHTS RUHR
URBAN LIGHTS RUHR
Hamm, Germany, 2014
This year, Urbane Künste Ruhr, together with international artists, realizes light artworks in public space for the second time since 2013, in 2014 in the urban space of Hamm. Five artists (collectives) from Taiwan, Belgium, Canada and Germany – LAb[au], Plastique Fantastique, RaumZeitPiraten, Sans façon and Jun Yang – have been invited to explore urban space and, in particular, its connection with water in and around the city of Hamm. The theme «Hamm ans Wasser» (Bring Hamm to the water) has been concerning urban planners and residents for many years, and URBAN LIGHTS RUHR aims to reanimate the dialogue and open up new perspectives for the city. The works created in the context of URBAN LIGHTS RUHR link Hamm city centre with the banks of the river Lippe and the Datteln-Hamm-Canal and invite to strolls, discoveries and actively joining in. URBAN LIGHTS RUHR not only creates new light art, but also looks into existing light art in Hamm, which is of great significance and has a long tradition locally: Hamm is a firm component of the Licht(kunst)Region Hellweg – ein Lichtweg. URBAN LIGHTS RUHR provides residents and visitors to Hamm, as well as international artists, with a platform for participating in the city’s urban development and giving new impulses.
Plastique Fantastique planned four temporary architectures at different places in Hamm. The artists’ main objective is to change the perception of the places. Their tools are mostly pneumatic, partly walk-in architectures, occasionally connected with sound and light sculptures. References to experiments of the 1960s and 1970s, when artists’ collectives such as Haus-Rucker-Co, Coop Himmelb(l)au and artists such as Jeff Shaw and Graham Stevens already experimented with “inflatable structures”, are more than obvious. This reference is particularly perceptible in the work RETTUNGSRING, when half of the inflated swim ring lies in the water, half of it on land. SUPERTUNNEL is a similar experience, which refers even more to the ambient urban situation. AEROPOLIS restaged a place in town by adding an inflatable sculpture. And in SOUND OF LIGHT, Plastique Fantastique combines the pneumatic sculpture with interactive light and sound to create a multimedia experience.
Artist
Marco Canevacci (Plastique Fantastique)
Curator
Katja Aßmann
Plastique Fantastique Team
Stephanie Grönnert, Mirjam Dorsch, Hugo Luque, Gabriel Spera, Àlvaro Gómez-Sellés
Text
Urban Lights Ruhr
Photos
Roman Mensing