Shrinking Cities–––––––––-–––––––––––––––––--------–––––––––––––––
Exhibition, September 4 until November 7, 2004
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Auguststr. 69, 10117 Berlin-Mitte
Opening hours: Tu–Su noon until 7 p.m., Th until 9 p.m., Mo closed
Price: 7 Euro, 4 Euro (discount)----------------------------------------------Shrinking Cities
The situation is dramatic: 1.3 million apartments in eastern
Germany are untenanted. In the year 2030, the figure is expected
to increase to 2 million. The unemployment rate is 20 percent.
More than a million residents have left the new states of theformer East Germany. Young, well-educated people in particular
are turning their backs on their home regions for the West in
pursuit of jobs or apprenticeships, which are currently rare even
there. The prognosis is that the population of eastern Germany
will be halved by 2050 – also because of demographic trends.
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Eastern Germany is not a unique case. Along with several shrinking regions
in western Germany, all over the world there are about 400 cities with populations over 100,000 that have lastingly shrunk in the last fifty years. The
population in the old industrial states is beginning to decline; the process ofurbanization has reached or past its zenith; the economy is still growing
slightly, but employment has steadily fallen for quite some time. It is the endof a 200-year epoch in which the industrial countries’ population, economy,affluence, and cities grew almost continuously and usually rapidly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------–––––––––––––––––––––---––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––---–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––The Exhibition Shrinking Cities of the initiative project of Germany’s Federal CulturalFoundation, the Kulturstiftung des Bundes, explores for the first time from an international perspective an urban development that has long since become a globalphenomenon. Since Fall 2002, local teams have been commissioned in the four shrinking
cities Detroit (USA), Manchester/Liverpool (Britain), Ivanovo (Russia), and Halle/Leipzig(Germany) to investigate and document processes of urban shrinking. In more thansixty exhibition contributions, artists, architects, filmmakers, journalists, culture
experts, and social scientists reveal the changed reality of these cities. The topics theteams address range from the neglect and appropriation of spaces through changed
practices of everyday life and new forms of work to the development of innovative
subcultures and criticism of established planning cultures.
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Exhibtion contributions by:
A: Sofie Thorsen; CAN: Eleanor Bond, Christopher McNamara; D: Michael Baute, Nikolaus Brade, Manfred Butzmann, AxelDoßmann, Antje Ehmann, Johannes Ehmann, Harun Farocki, Laura Horelli, Konrad Knebel, Anne König, Pia Lanzinger, InesLasch, Netzwerk e. V. Südwest, niko.31 (Jens Fischer, Katja Heinecke, Reinhard Krehl, Silke Steets) with Nils Emde, Project
office Philipp Oswalt (Elke Beyer, Anke Hagemann, Doreen Mende, Tim Rieniets), Raumtaktik (Friedrich von Borries, MatthiasBöttger), Albrecht Schäfer, Christoph Schäfer, Nicole Schuck, Stadtbüro Hunger, Heidi Stecker, Ingo Vetter, Clemens vonWedemeyer, Annette Weisser, Jan Wenzel, Rochus Wiedemer, Kathrin Wildner, Tobias Zielony; GB: John Davies, LeoFitzmaurice, Neville Gabie, G.L.A.S. (Glasgow Letters on Architecture & Space), Ken Grant, Dave Haslam, Kath Healy, TomJefferies, Newbetter (Joshua Bolchover, Shumon Basar), Aidan O’Rourke, public works (Kathrin Böhm, Andreas Lang), PaulRooney, Imogen Stidworthy, Neil Swanson, Lee Thompson, Kevin Ward, Dominic Wilkinson, Tom Wood; NL: Bas Princen;
RUS: Vladimir Archipov, Sergei Bratkov, Olga Filatova, Alexei Kononenko, Yuri Leiderman, Savva Miturich, Sergei Miturich,Elena Samorodova, Vera Samorodova, Sergei Sitar, Boris Spiridonov, Alexander Sverdlov; USA: Robert Andersen, MitchCope, Mark Dancey, DCDC (Dan Pitera, Christopher Lee), Andrew Dosunmu, Tammy Lynn Evans, John Ganis, Derrick Gilbert,Tyree Guyton, Aurora Harris, Benjamin Miguel Hernandez, Scott Hocking, Jody Huellmantel, iCUE/Kyong Park, Jeff Karolski,Toni Moceri, Kelly Parker, Clinton Snider, Chris Turner, Peter Williams, Andrew Zago––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––––––––––––-–––––––––––
Visitor Service:
Overview tours: Sa/Su, 3 p.m., price: 4 Euro per person.
Group tours (max. 15 persons) in German or English are available on request. Standard tour
(general overview, 1 hour) 60 Euro; discount 50 Euro.
Contact: Arthur Berlin, Fon 030/81 79 87 40, Fax 030/81 79 87 41, visit@shrinkingcities.com––––––––––––––––––––––––-––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––-–––––––––––––––––––––
Accompanying Program:
Shrinking Cities Music (Palast der Republik, September 23 until September 25, 2004)

Shrinking Cities Film (Zeughauskino, October 14 until October 17, 2004)
Shrinking Cities Literature (Roter Salon, September 28, 2004)
Late Cinema (Palast der Republik, Tuesdays 11 p.m.)

Talks with artists (KW, Wednesdays 8 p.m.)
Exhibition discussions (KW, Fridays 4 until 7 p.m.)
Podium discussions (October 5, October 29, November 5, 2004).................................................................................

Further information at www.shrinkingcities.com––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––––––––––––––––––––
Chief Curator: Philipp Oswalt (architect/journalist, Berlin)................................................................................................
Curatorial Team: Walter Prigge (Bauhaus Dessau Foundation); Barbara Steiner(Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig); Kyong Park (International Center for UrbanEcology, Detroit); Nikolaus Kuhnert (magazine archplus, Berlin)................................................................................................
Local Curators: Detroit: Mitch Cope (artist/curator, Detroit), Kyong Park (artist/curator, New York) with Dan Pitera/DCDC (architect, Detroit); Ivanovo: Sergei Sitar(architect/journalist, Moscow), Alexander Sverdlov (architect, Moscow/Rotterdam);Liverpool/Manchester: Joshua Bolchover (architect, Manchester), Paul Domela(curator, Liverpool), Philipp Misselwitz (architect, Berlin/Tel Aviv)................................................................................................
Exhibition design: Meyer Voggenreiter Projekte, Cologne with Sebastian Hauser
and Claudia Hoffmann; Exhibition graphic: 1kilo, Berlin; Graphic: Stephan Müller
and Tanja Wesse, Berlin................................................................................................
Shrinking Cities is a project of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes [German Federal
Cultural Foundation] in cooperation with the Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig,
the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, and the magazine archplus.
---------------------------------------------------------------------––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––––––––––––––––The exhibition in Berlin is the first presentation of the results of this initiative project, whichlasts three years; the second exhibition, presenting strategies for action, follows in Fall 2005 inLeipzig. The project’s work is also presented at events, on the website, and in print-on-demand
publications.
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A 736-page book will be published by the Verlag Hatje Cantz to accompany the exhibition.
Project office Philipp Oswalt, management director: Florian Bolenius, Eisenacher Straße 74, D–10823 Berlin, mail@shrinkingcities.com, www.shrinkingcities.com––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-----------------––––––––––––––––––-----–------–––––––––––––––––––
Special Thanks to: Embassy of the United States of America in Berlin, British Council, Danish Arts Council/The visual Arts Centre, Canadian Embassy, Hotel Kolumbus, DeutschlandRadio
Berlin and Tageszeitung and others

Shrinking Cities

Exhibition, Sept. 4 until Nov. 7, 2004
KW Institute for Contemporary Art

Photo: ©Tobias Zielony

ShrinkingCities