Exhibition

The “Projekt Migration” exhibition will open on 30 September 2005 and take place in three central locations in Cologne: on Rudolfplatz, on Friesenplatz and at the Kölnischer Kunstverein as well as in public spaces.
All three buildings were built in the 1950s and 1960s and embody the hope of post-war modernity in their architecture.
The exhibition spaces are synchronously designed – according to topic focus and not chronology. This method permits us to make reference to the possible continuities and reminiscences of the period after 1955 (1st post-war recruitment surge with Italy), but also breaches of, and contradictions within, the individual phases of the German and European migration dynamic. Not only the different materials used by the project partners, but also the different types of exhibit, be it photography, document, experimental film or artistic work, can be brought together in a dialogue of contents. Hence, the exhibition will assume a superior perspective, which will even allow us to see migration as a driving force of social change in Germany and Europe.
The basis of the exhibition concept is the DOMiT (Documentation Centre and Museum of Migration in Germany, Cologne) archive as well as research in archives throughout Germany, such as the WDR Archive, to name but one. Furthermore, scientific and artistic productions have been commissioned, which give conceptual shape to, and implement, the individual project results. To round this off, artists will be invited to exhibit existing works. For this reason, the exhibition will open up a myriad of methodical means of access.

An exhibition guide provides information on topics, rooms and exhibits.

Artists, Filmmakers, Architects:

Vito Acconci , Advanced Chemistry, Agency (Int./*1992), An Architektur, Aysun Bademsoy, Joseph Beuys, David Blandy, Madeleine Bernstorff / Elke aus dem Moore, Pavel Braïla, Brothers Keepers, Vlassis Caniaris, Gustav Deutsch, DOMiT e.V., Lukas Duwenhögger, Ayse Erkmen, Harun Farocki, Jeanne Faust / Jörn Zehe, Hans-Peter Feldmann, FFM Berlin, Doris Frohnapfel, José Giribas, Morgan O'Hara, Farida Heuck / Birgit zur Nieden, Candida Höfer, F.W. Holubovski, Cerin Hong, Gernot Huber, Hannah Hurtzig, Alfons Kampert, Kanak Attak, Gülsün Karamustafa, Selahattin Kaya, kein mensch ist illegal, Ernst Kirschner, Bernd Kniess, Alfred Koch, Brigitte Kraemer, Kemal Kurt, Brigitta Kuster, Labor k3000, Thomas Locher, Mabouna II Moise Merlin, Angela Melitopoulos, Jean Mohr, Christian Philipp Müller, Tazro Niscino, Non Stop No Stops ( Pit / Ladengold / Warchold / Letic ), Marcel Odenbach, Anny & Sibel Öztürk, Henrik Olesen, Boris Ondreicka, Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk, Adrian Paci , Krsto Papic, Dan Perjovschi, Peterhofen – Stern Hamburg, Susan Philipsz, Ayse Polat, Lisl Ponger, Dont Rhine / Ultra-red, Jeroen de Rijke /Willem de Rooij, Julika Rudelius, Saisonstadt (Albers / Hieslmair / Sagadin / Zinganel ), Anri Sala, Bülent Sangar, Christoph Schäfer, Alfred Schmidt, Anne-Marie Schneider, Ene-Liis Semper, Ann-Sofi Sidén, Nika Špan, Wolfgang Staiger, Mladen Stilinovic , Andrijana Stojkovic, Marily Stroux, Heinrich Stuckert, Erika Sulze-Kleimeier, Wolfgang Tillmans, TRANSIT MIGRATION, Rosemarie Trockel, Guenay Ulutuncok, Manfred Vollmer, Hans-Joachim Weber, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Jun Yang, Tobias Zielony, Želimir Žilnik , …

Catalogue

There will be a comprehensive catalogue for the exhibition, designed as a general commentary for the exhibition. It comprises topic-specific essays, individual portrayals on the various migration stories, foundation texts and interviews with migrants and people, manifests, documents, legislation and artistic documentations involved in migration. To this end, the catalogue will also include important international theoretical positions, including those of Stuart Hall, Saskia Sassen, Arjun Appadurai and Etienne Balibar. The main section of the publication will collate the texts in their respective original languages (e.g. the story of the individual immigrant groups), while the German translations of the foreign-language contributions will be printed at the back of the book. Hence, the catalogue will systematically reflect, and address, a multilingual German immigrant population within the context of Europeanisation and globalisation.

Mediation and accompanying programmes

A target-group-specific mediation programme will help secure as many different population groups as possible for the exhibition. The search for suitable mediation staff, including students of education, culture and social sciences at the University of Cologne has already commenced.
The selected people will be intensively prepared in workshops for their contents and didactic tasks.
Furthermore, special events, such as discussion rounds and presentations, as well as a multi-part music programme will also present the contents of the exhibition to other venues and environments. Many of these events will be organised in cooperation with public bodies, e.g. the House of Literature and the University, with the objective of involving the City of Cologne more intensively in the context of the exhibition. Three panel discussions on the topics of “The future of the immigrant society”, “Split memory” and “Transnationalisation” will also help open up a future-oriented perspective.