THE FUTURE OF CITIES. NOT FOR GRANTED

11/09/2021 – 29/01/2022
Halle 14 – Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst / Center for Contemporary Art – Leipzig, Germany

Curated by: Michael Arzt, Claudia Gehre

Bert Theis & out

Halle 14 / Leipzig

Exhibition view / 2021

The city is our future way of life! Half of humanity already lives there. Although the limits of growth have long been exceeded, the world and urban populations continue to grow rapidly. Cities with a population of over a million and megacities connect to form metropolitan regions such as the Taiheiyō Belt in Japan (over 80 million people) or BosNYWash on the North American East Coast (45 million people). These mega-regions cause nature to disappear. Cities consume the majority of the energy and emit most of the carbon dioxide. The catastrophic consequences of global warming such as droughts and floods are driving more people from rural areas to cities. The percentage of the world’s population that is displaced has never been as high as it is today. The future of the city is an inevitable part of the geosocial question of the survival of all species on our planet.

Exhibition invitation

Halle 14 / Leipzig

If all destinations within a city center could be reached without a car, streets and parking lots could be turned into cooling urban landscapes for people, plants and animals. With visionary concepts and sustainable materials, less would have to be built today in order to enable more people to live and work well tomorrow. Digitalization also has a massive impact on the urban functional fabric. The city of the future will be smart. Chances are high that this could be the closed business model of a tech giant, including unimaginable opportunities for control. However, digital means of dialogic democratization could also be used to re-pose the question “To whom does the city belong?” The development of the city of the future cannot succeed from above alone; it must incorporate the needs of a wide variety of actors and be flexible and resilient.

Bert Theis & out

Halle 14 / Leipzig

Exhibition view / 2021

How do urban planning and architecture design for the 99 percent of society? What if a concept of beauty in architecture prevailed that did not mean luxury for the one percent, but was understood as the “first gesture of care and love”? (Raul Pantaleo) What if it were used as a “tool to improve life”? (Anna Heringer) This exhibition presents eleven artistic and architectural examples of how people are responding to the challenges of climate change, digitalization and migration. It looks closely, outlining sometimes darker, sometimes brighter visions and shows groundbreaking solutions.

A two-day symposium (January 28 & 29, 2022) will discuss current challenges, resulting models and their significance for planning processes in three panels with specialists, artists and activists. The art education project “Bauspielplatz Kunst Kammer – Playing with the Rules” will take place along the exhibition. A final publication will summarize the symposium and the exhibition.

(Halle 14 website text). Photos: All Rights by: HALLE 14, Leipzig | Walther Le Kon, 2021

Bert Theis & out

Halle 14 / Leipzig

Exhibition view / 2021