This exhibition on Ebertplatz by the research center »Real-Time City« of the TH Köln explores socio-spatial processes and practices in the Corona crisis. From July, 16 to 26, 2020, installations and interventions reflecting the effects of the pandemic on communication and action in public space will be exhibited on the square and in the project space of the City of Cologne.
When people gather in public, they appear in streets or on squares, in churches, theatres, parliaments, or lecture halls. They gather to demonstrate, pray, play, watch, govern, or learn together. A central element of coming together in public space is the physical presence of actors. Gathered bodies stage plural sovereignty per se. The spatial arrangement they form is indisputable and their bodily masses demand recognition.
Since the Corona crisis, collective social situations have been avoided worldwide. The reorganization of social life in order to flatten the curve profoundly effects spatial structures of the city. Especially urban public spaces that usually are easily accessible and frequently visited may appear obsolete in times of the pandemic. Buildings, public places, cities, and entire states are sealed off, and global mobility is massively reduced while the virus spreads at the same time.
The Ebertplatz in Cologne will exemplify the effects of the pandemic on communication and action in social spaces. Time- and media-based works as well as urban interventions and performances deal with the reorganization of the public ground, the choreography of distance, the expansion of surveillance, the viral spread of humor vs. paranoia as well as the auditory experience of pandemic silence and self-soothing strategies in parks and gardens. They measure the spatial situation in the »Corona Society« and show perspectives for a future after the crisis.
»Assemble | Disassemble« is a cooperation project with the Urban Space Management of the City of Cologne as part of the temporary use of Ebertplatz. It is accompanied by the research center »Real-Time City« of the TH Köln, which deals with emerging urban environments and communication contexts in times of digitality.
Organisation
Prof. Dr. Carolin Höfler with Mario Frank, Konstantin Hehl and Julian Hoffmann, Köln International School of Design der TH Köln
Project authors
Marcelo Andreguetti, Max Brückner, Johannes Förster, Mario Frank, Konstantin Hehl, Ayako Matsuda, Christian Müller, Christopher Müller, Ruth Müller, Marlene Neumann, Zoë Rush, David Sieverding, Martin Sistig
With the friendly support of Gerd Mies, head of the wood workshop at KISD.
Location
Project Space, Ebertplatzpassage, 50668 Köln
Opening times
Thur – Sun, July, 16 – 26, 2020, daily, 3 – 8 p.m.
Project authors on site
Fri – Sun, July, 17 – 19, 2020, 4 – 7 p.m.
Fri – Sun, July, 24 – 26, 2020,, 4 – 7 p.m.
Performances on the Ebertplatz
Max Brückner
3D Sound Experience
Fri – Sun, July, 17 –19, 2020, 4 & 6 p.m.
Fri – Sun, July, 24 – 26, 2020, 4 & 6 p.m.
Johannes Förster, Christian Müller, Ruth Müller & Marlene Neumann
Social Distancing via Noise
Fri – Sat, July 17 – 18, 2020, 5 p.m.
Fri, July 24, 2020, 5 p.m.
The meeting point for the performances is in front of the project space in the Ebertplatzpassage. Please pay attention to hygiene measures and keep a distance.
Photo: Mario Frank & Konstantin Hehl, 2020