Über Brücken – Bridging was a performance and exhibition project in public space around and on the bridges of Cologne. Between September 2022 and September 2024, the program took place in various public places in Cologne that were connected to the bridges and formed the setting for the artistic works.
Cologne’s bridges are (historical) symbols of its urban transformation and provide space for discussion in relation to the expansion and preservation of their existence as structure-giving elements of the city. They connect districts that are undergoing different processes of social development, bridge the legendary Rhine, and connect the inner-city west with the east of Cologne at seven points. The bridges also embody the (geographical) junctions between the art scene on the left and right banks of the Rhine, which the project traced and illuminated through collaborations with existing Cologne initiatives and institutions in the different neighborhoods near the bridges.
Within the framework of Über Brücken – Bridging, seven days of events featured local and international artistic positions. The invited artists engaged with the respective places, districts, and their inhabitants, as well as with the histories of the individual bridges. Each event day is devoted to one of the seven bridges. The events took take place over three years, starting in September 2022 with the Mülheimer Brücke. Over the following months, the venues moved from north to south across the Zoobrücke, the Hohenzollernbrücke, the Deutzer Brücke, the Severinsbrücke, the Südbrücke, and the Rodenkirchener Brücke, each including a guided walk across one of the bridges from bank to bank, from east to west and back again.
Curated with Lisa Klosterkötter
www.bridging-cologne.de
