Caught in eight-hour waking and sleeping patterns, flexible working hours, body clocks and the social pressure to be non-stop available, productive and awake, sleep represents an almost resistant state – a phase of non-production and non-consumption. Yet even when resting, our bodies can be digitally measured and optimised by numerous inventions designed to help us sleep better. Sleepless nights are juxtaposed with the creative state of being rested, and fantasy worlds alternate with nightmare scenarios turned into reality. The concept of sleep is as multifaceted as the artistic examination of it. At the Ruhr Ding: Schlaf 2023, numerous projects in the southern Ruhr area testify to this, and the monthly Wandersalon is warming up for this topic with discussions and readings by artists and experts.
The Ruhr Ding: Schlaf marks the end of a three-part exhibition series presented throughout the region by the Urbane Künste Ruhr under Britta Peters’ artistic direction. After the Ruhr Ding: Territorien 2019 and the Ruhr Ding: Klima 2021, the wandering exhibition will take place in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Witten and Gelsenkirchen in 2023, shifting back to the Ruhr area’s industrial history with the beginnings of mining. The third Ruhr Ding series shifts our focus from questions about the environment and our surroundings to the human body itself and its need for sleep as something we all share. Using art, we present reflections on our relationship to the body and time, leading to the question: How do we want to live?
With contributions by: Wojciech Bąkowski, Maximiliane Baumgartner, Guy Dermosessian, God's Entertainment, Michel Gondry, Irena Haiduk, Katarina Jazbec, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Stephanie Lüning, Melanie Manchot, Nik Nowak, Yuri Pattison, Joanna Piotrowska, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Alicja Rogalska, Nora Turato, Viron Erol Vert and The Wig.
- Magazine
In anticipation of Ruhr Ding: Schlaf the new edition of the Urbane Künste Ruhr magazine has just been published in March 2023. You can subscribe to it free of charge here.
- Irrlichter-Tour
An extensive mediation programme accompanies the exhibition during the entire period. All information about the exact locations, registration details, and the participation is available on our website shortly prior the exhibition start. Sign up for our newsletter here and you will be notified as soon as your registration is activated.
