The Ruhrtriennale arts festival in west Germany, which opens this week (12 August-24 September), is more relevant than ever in light of the UK voting to leave the European Union and the debate about the future direction of Europe, says its current director Johan Simons.
In a statement on the triennial’s website, Simons says: “Looking around Europe, one sometimes has the impression we are living on a knife-edge: there are so many tensions, so many ideological and religious conflicts.” He adds that the Ruhr region, which lies at the heart of Europe, has over the centuries been a haven for immigrants. “Sometimes we also need the freedom to transcend borders. These are the central values of the Enlightenment on which European culture is based,” he says.
Asked about the UK’s Brexit vote in June to leave the EU, he told The Art Newspaper that “the decision is sad as it means we no longer stick together. Brexit is perhaps a protest vote from parts of society such as the unemployed. But the EU has difficulties, as it presents economic arguments which are not always easily understood.”
The Ruhrtriennale is an annual multidisciplinary event held in former industrial buildings dotted around the Ruhr area in North Rhine-Westphalia. A new director is chosen to oversee the programme every three years; the Dutch theatre and opera director Simons is at the helm from 2015 to 2017. The theme of Simons’s three-year programme is “Seid umschlungen” (be embraced), which he describes as “a social, political and geographical gesture”.
This year’s art offerings include Manifesto, the multi-screen film installation by the German filmmaker Julian Rosefeldt. The project stars the actor Cate Blanchett, who channels more than 50 artistic calls to action through 13 monologues, drawing on texts by the Dadaist, Futurist and Fluxus schools.
The Dutch design studio Atelier Van Lieshout will present a new sculpture called the Steam Hammer House, a vast post-industrial monument housing a toilet and kitchen. “By appropriating its bowels, humans will literally become one with the machine,” the organisers say.
• Ruhrtriennale (12 August-24 September), various venues, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany