Highlights of the 'Art and Coal' exhibition
Coal is revisited by the arts in 17 museums of the Ruhr region for the mega exhibition "Art and Coal."
Ibrahim Mahama: coal market
The artist from Ghana turns buildings into sculptures by covering them up with jute charcoal sacks. Ibrahim Mahama's performance in Athens and Kassel drew attention at the Documenta 14. For this exhibition he covered the moated Strünkede Castle with bags. The sacks, produced in Asia, are marked with the code of the companies that used them, a symbol for globalized trade.
Alexander Chekmenev's photo series, 'Donbass'
It is a global phenomenon: former mining regions are often affected by poverty and people afflicted by aimlessness when the mines are closed. Ukrainian photographer Alexander Chekmenev (born 1969) documented life in the Donbass region. Some miners perilously continue to extract the precious fossil fuel from the abandoned mines.
Alexander Chekmenev: a wedding in East Ukraine
Chekmenev's photos portray the hardships of working and living in the contested region, while revealing touching moments of humanity and humor. As a part of the exhibition involving 17 museums in the Ruhr region, the photo series creates a bridge between the German and Russia-occupied East Ukrainian mining region.
Olaf Metzel's food bank
The found object artist Olaf Metzel also deals with the poverty faced by people in former mining regions. His work "Tafelrunde" (food bank round), made of shopping bags, refers to a controversial issue that garnered a lot of media attention: in February 2018, a food bank in Essen had decided to exclude foreigners from receiving their donations.
Lars Breuer: a stranger
Part of the group "Art and Coal" exhibition, the show at the Museum unter Tage in Bochum is entitled "Schwarz" (Black), referring to the color of coal. Artist Lars Breuer quotes in this work a verse from Franz Schubert's song cycle "Winterreise": "Fremd bin ich eingezogen, fremd zieh ich wieder aus" — "A stranger I arrived here, a stranger I go hence."
Susanne Weirich: charcoal face masks
The artist and professor at the Duisburg-Essen University used images available on social media for her video installation shown at the MuT. Young men and women of different skin colors apply face masks made of coal and glue and painfully tear them off, a form of "blackfacing" that feels like a new casting of the skin ritual.
Andreas Golinski: deep memories
Some of the 17 museums involved in the "Art and Coal" group exhibition invited artists to specifically work on the topic. The Bochum Kunstmuseum features artist Andreas Golinski, who reflected on the fate of miners. Cracks in his multimedia installations reflect the fears of the unknown hiding in the underground of the Ruhr region. He describes his imagery as "mental archaeology."
Helga Griffith: 'Migratory Sense'
Griffith turns coal into diamonds: the internationally renowned artist uses science for her art. Her exhibition in the art museum in Mühlheim an der Ruhr is like a time capsule of former conditions of materials. The light installation "Migratory Sense," from 2017, refers to transformation processes of the elements fire, earth, air and water.
Jannis Kounellis: Untitled, 2005
The show "Homage to Jannis Kounellis" at the Museum Küppersmühle opens on June 8. The pioneer of the Arte Povera movement used "poor" materials for his installations that featured strong associations and history. He felt that iron and coal were the materials that best reflected the origins of today's culture. Other artists such as Anselm Kiefer and Sun Xun also often work with coal.
From mining to culture in the Ruhr region
Coal mining characterized the Ruhr region for 250 years. The closing of the last hard coal mines marks the end of an industrial era. Through art, it is emerging as a cultural region instead. At the heart of this transformation are 20 art museums in the Ruhr region, 17 of which are currently showing exhibitions related to the historical changes happening there.