Observatorium: Melancholie und die Braut This is the shadow site for search engines. Open the site for humans here

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Melancholie und die Braut
Art and Urban Design Festival
Temporary open-air theatre on busy traffic island, consisting of a platform of Dresden sandstone, Plattenbau (prefabricated concrete slabs), a red bed and 400 seats.
CONTEXT
The Postplatz square in the heart of Dresden is both a square and a wide open space, it is considered a wound of the city that needs to be healed. Postplatz-Dresden was a multidisciplinary event that lasted half a year. It was an attemp to bring together theory, art and politics of urban planning. The event posed the question who is responsible for a lively city, wether the influence of investors wasn't too big and if restauration of the inner city only should serve mass tourism as it does now. Eight artist from six countries were asked to show a video and to make an artwork on site. CONCEPT Observatorium showed the film by Edwin Vertstegen about the Hotel Diorama installation in Rotterdam, when 16 shops were turned into hotel rooms. It showed the possibility of intensifying public life in the context of commercial space. It was a positive answer to the questions Postplatz-Dresden was raising. Considering what kind of art we could do to arrange a direct parcipatory influence of the public on the urban environment, we struck by intense contrast between the magnificent baroque architecture of the Zwinger and the adjacent unarticulate emptiness of Postplatz. Can we bring life to the square? Can people use the empty space solely for the sake of joy?
location: Postplatz, Dresden
year:2003
images:
Observatorium - Melancholie und die Braut - dresden kroon Observatorium - Melancholie und die Braut - dresen van boven

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