Ruhr Art Trail

Art emerges - RWE implements 17 works of art along the RuhrtalRadweg.

From a secluded brook to the world's largest inland port; from medieval castles and half-timbered idylls through impressive industrial heritage landscapes to postmodern harbor flair; from secluded forest paths to well-developed Ruhr riverbank promenades - the RuhrtalRadweg lives contrasts! Since mid-2010, 17 works of art have added to the diversity of the 240-kilometer route along the course of the Ruhr.

As part of the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010, RWE initiated a competition for students of art and design. In the course of the summer of 2010, a total of eleven artistic concepts were awarded prizes and implemented, which now enter into an artistic dialogue with RWE's technical route markers at 17 locations along the RuhrtalRadweg. A total of 60 artists from the Münster Art Academy, the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, the Freie Akademie der bildenden Künste in Essen and the design program of the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences took part in the ideas competition.

An expert jury of external art experts and RWE technicians selected original and unconventional approaches that open up new perspectives on the subject of energy: A local grid station in the deepest Sauerland near Winterberg reveals an erotic-energetic seduction with the video installation "Watt'n dat?". A round dance of gas marker poles entitled "CRE:SIGN" gives passers-by something to think about with a motto. Five telescopes, at various locations following the concept idea of "targeting energy", cheerfully and colorfully alienate the view of high-voltage pylons, lanterns and power plants. Photo installations, which - like a search game - integrate themselves into the technical environment, line the path as "support", "coil part" and "slider".

The artworks become the connecting element between nature and technology. Whether at "primus inter pares" a gray electricity marker pole leads a pack of yellow marker poles in the direction of the Ruhr, or the moss-covered and plant-encircled "Green Mound" comfortably envelops a gas station, whether a colorfully iridescent high-voltage pylon as a "lighthouse" colorfully refracts the sunlight, or an oversized switchgear construction with an integrated birdhouse called "offline" astonishes passers-by - those who step on the brakes ask themselves in a new way: How is energy generated, converted and transported? The conundrum picture "Moving Bikes" sets mind and body in motion: Depending on the perspective and one's own speed, the almost life-size photographs on a house wall seem to start rolling. And on Neheim's Rathausplatz, a gas station encased in bright yellow diffuser panels is already making a name for itself citywide.

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