“The city no longer
waits for tourists – it begins to circulate
globally on its own,” says cultural theorist Boris Groys. New means of
cultural exchange, caused by migration, by globalised business worlds and by
changed cultural demands change the way in which we approach the ‘foreign
and unknown’. The town’s inhabitant becomes a tourist in his own
city, rediscovers districts or saunters through the town center with a tourist’s
distant view. The tourists have various motives for visiting: they are business
people or exhibition visitors, friends or exchange students. They take part
in the business or the everyday life and become short time residents. Their
attention not only focuses on local specialities but also on international
events. Global lifestyles become firmly fixed in an historically unique city.
“Bremen’s position in the tourism business is on the rise”, claimed Bremen’s Touristik Zentrale at the beginning of 2004. City tourism is becoming more important, and not only in Bremen. It has become a significant economic factor in many European cities. Bremen is applying for the European Cultural Capitol in 2010 and wants to upgrade its image als a cultural city. Urban marketing, art and culture interlace.
With Tourist City we use artistic and discursive means to get involved in
the process of urban development in regard to tourism. The exhibition, events,
film programs and lectures accompany this process with utopian visions and
critical reflections.
In the summer of 2003 we invited artists to present us with their future ideas of Tourist City and a jury viewed the numerous works. The artists got in touch with the disires and fears of the population. They analyse touristic viewpoints as well as the conditions for tourism. They dispatched visionary ideas that refer to new forms of tourism and media experience.
26 works by artists from six different countries are dispalyed in four outstanding showrooms and in the city center.
From Bremen’s Künstlerhaus on the left bank of the river Weser it is only a short way across the Teerhof-Island to the tourist centers Schlachte and Böttcherstraße to the Tourist City Shop at the Handwerkerhof.
At Speicher XI the rejuvination of the old docks is evident. Here, at the Zentrum für Baukultur (Bremen’s Center for building culture), a background storeroom has been installed next to the exhibition, with texts, videos and publications focusing on urban tourism.
The Schlachthof water tower offers an impressive view of Bremen and is a
favorite address for friends of music and theater. Here, artists’ works
are displayed on all levels. Every Sunday guided tours of the exhibition’s
other locations start here. Combined city and art tours inform you about Tourist
City and Bremen.
Further artistic events, films and lectures take place here and at the Schlachte, on Bremen’s camping site, in the city center and also at the Wienerhof Café. See the event schedule, the internet (www.touristcity.de) or the local newspapers for exact dates and times.
To start off Tourist City, Ersatzverkehr 2004 (Ersatz traffic 2004), a (mis)guided tour of Bremen sets off: The Berlin theater group Lajos Talamonti presents a bizarre trip in a bus. While the tour guide is describing Bremen’s sights, the bus is going astray…
We would like to invite
you to the exhibition’s opening on Saturday,
June 6 th at the Schlachthof. The artist Mechthild Hettich from Bremen and
her ensemble will ‘sing in’ the exhibition. The Viennese architect
Gabu Heindl presents her plans for the new Las Vegas amusement park ‘bin
city’, and Ieva Dzintare and Ojars Apinis will introduce their research
on Bremen in a multimedia show.
You are welcome!
Vera Kandzia, Susanna Dagny Mohr, Jens Werner