GastGastgeber

5. Eight aspects of the concept

The GastGastgeber concept makes it possible to connect the aspirations from the Ruhr region with those from the Dutch contribution to the program and thus to unlock the site for visitors in an intensive way. In addition we briefly and point-wise explain the various facets of the concept.

• At first the GastGastgeber concept connects well with the ambitions of the cultural capital itself. Through cultural activities they will experience the wide-ranging available (former) industrial items again. Preferably by creating permanent cultural hotspots with studio space, performance space and the like (so called Kreativ.Quartiere), it gives the area a new impulse and thus a new future is expected. The GastGastgeber concept allows giving different places, in anticipation of future use, right now a new use and thus gives a new experience.

This enables the concept of the GastGastgeber to be seen as a testing ground in the Ruhrgebiet for the many situations of shrinkage and reuse of buildings and areas that are in the Netherlands yet to come.

• Besides that the GastGastgeber concept provides the practical needs of a shortage of suitable, available and attractive accommodation facilities. The elaboration of the concept then makes the deployment of different Dutch designers and developers possible. The temporary reclamation of industrial sites and objects calls for the use of (landscape) architects, spatial and graphic designers. In addition, concept developers examine the realization of high but temporary and, as possible, portable accommodation. In the Netherlands a wide range of projects are realized in the past few years that could serve as an example (see Inspiration).

A number of Dutch artists and designers are already involved in projects in the RUHR.2010 program. In their projects lie good connectivity’s for the GastGastgeber concept.

– Thus the Rotterdam landscape art office Observatorium is already involved in a large number Ruhrprojecten. Within one of these projects the further development of the idea of “mobile hotel” belongs to the possibilities, within their concept to develop a temporary village on the Emscherinsel.

– Also one of the art projects “B1/A40″ has shown interest to, for example, let Joep van Lieshout and Jeanne van Heeswijk design temporary mobile hotels.

– It is also likely that De Parade is planning to have tents in Dortmund and they will present a joint festival in consultation with the existing festival Favoriten (September 2010). The Parade has good experience with temporary presentation- and experience accommodations and looks at the same time for synergy with the public space, mobile architecture and good food. The participating artists reside predominantly in caravans they brought themselves. It is quite conceivable that in this context the GastGastgeber concept is further shaped.

– Moreover, the director of the Rotterdam Creative Factory Leo van Loon, is approached by the RUHR-organization to develop a number of “creative residencies”. Besides the potential to develop temporary housing facilities individually, the connection with these projects will contribute to a strong network of facilities and special ‘Veranstaltungsorte’.

By adding the element of the temporary hotel facilities to the program a framework for the Dutch contributions is created, which itself has a strong content and character but respects the content and character of the various contributions. The temporary facilities may display themselves as a network in the area but also pop as a swarm at major pop concerts and events in which the Netherlands play a role.

Anyway, the temporary hotel facilities are both in time (around the events) as in place (around sites that are related to events) associated with the Dutch contributions to RUHR.2010. In this way the temporary hotels are signal, strengthening and practical assistance in one. In this way these temporary hotels are the ideal cores around which the communication and marketing of the Dutch contributions to RUHR.2010 can be folded.

Places and moments that lend themselves to a visit by the swarm include the planned eCulture fair in August 2010 in Dortmund, planned theater performances in Essen and Bochum, the performances of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in June in Essen, the planned Niederländische Musikwochen in the autumn.

For the host of temporary hotel facilities, an itinerary can be created in collaboration with the partners that are at the right time at the right place during the years.

• The GastGastgeber concept can give place to a lot of activities of the Dutch side, which does not yet have a specific site yet, and give it a special and particularly place in this large urban, industrial and post-suburban landscape. It can act as a synergy between parts of the programs of TIN, Virtual Platform, DDFA, MCN and individual initiatives to present themselves for a period of RUHR.2010. The various programs, large and small, thus obtain a greater visibility and recognition.

These Dutch activities can possibly join new partnerships with each other on the GastGastgeber spots but especially also with local promoters. The spots will work as a magnet to other promoters of presentations, workshops, performances and shows, or just extremely delay, so that places develop Strahlkraft and will be more visible in the urban fabric of the Ruhr. Also the Dutch cities that will express themselves with a program during RUHR.2010, can connect to this system of places with Strahlkraft.

– Places that offer good prospects for Strahlkraft can be found for example around the Bunker in Marxloh Medien, Duisburg North. In this residential area amid plenty still operating steel mills lives a Turkish community that is very active on different fronts.

– Not only this is the place where the largest mosque in Germany just opened, also a vibrant concentration of Turkish bridal shops is now created here. Moreover some Turkish immigrant sons in the Medienbunker are active as a catalyst for thinking about the future urban culture.

– Around Oberhausen artist Hans Jungerius maps some places for his Ruhrbüro, a travel company for special tours through the Ruhrgebiet. The network and the sites that emerge from this also give important prospects for the GastGastgeber.

– In the center of Dortmund the organization of RUHR.2010 already mapped a number of empty office buildings that are able to serve as a location for the GastGastgeber.

The places with Strahlkraft then contribute to a wider opening experience and ability of the region. The spots are not only accessible, but also can be visited outside the moments of the shows that are going to occur. The furnished temporary housing facilities in special places constitute a special exhibition in itself. Moreover, the temporary hotel offers place to visitors and to artists, actors and staff of the performances that take place at the sites. Going one step further you could think of programming the night, so there would be special performances to be seen or heard in the dead of night. Thus the GastGastgeber concept promotes a wider ability to visit specific locations during the week, but also an increased perception of the spots during the day.

• The GastGastgeber concept can give visitors a compelling reason for a longer delay in the Ruhr. By developing the GastGastgeber concept as a whole, also with short and mobile facilities, it becomes possible to spread the program better over the area and the period over which the cultural capital manifests. The elements of the GastGastgeber concept can ensure concentration in the organization, location and the communication with the public.

The GastGastgeber concept can place a new network of sites on the Ruhr that adds something substantial to the program and its sites so as the Ruhrorganisation itself develops it. The GastGastgeber concept fits in with that program but can also develop his or her own transportation concepts in which the visitor makes a “slightly different” section of the territory. Also in the development of these transport concepts artists and designers can be involved.

• Finally, the core concept of the GastGastgeber connects well with the image the Dutch culture has abroad, especially in Germany. The Netherlands and Dutch people are liked as enterprising, initiative, innovative, resourceful unexpected, ‘locker’, welcoming, adventurous and willing to experiment. The concept will also have a connection to another “prejudice” that Germans hold on Dutch, that of the “sleurhuttoerist.

After all it is mainly the Dutch who will constipate the German highways with their cars and caravans in the holiday months.