Kieswerk art space
Kunstraum Kieswerk is an industrial monument in the city of Weil am Rhein , which is located in the three-country garden - Switzerland , Germany and France . Today the former ready-mixed concrete mixing plant is used as a gallery and studio . The sculptor Volker Scheurer and the painter Ania Dziezewska use their art in seven rooms and a 2000 m 2 outdoor area. The event is a project of the Kieswerk art space, which supports various events in rooms of the industrial monument.
history
The gravel plant was the first ready-mixed concrete mixing plant in the Basiliensis region. In the 1920s, the plant was put into operation as a central element of the Käppelin gravel pit. With the concrete mixing plant, the Gustav Eirich machine factory from Hardheim in North Baden built an elevated collecting trough, cement silos and corresponding transport devices in 1960. Concrete was made from gravel in two agitators. Trucks could drive under the stand construction and pick up the finished mixture. The control panel for these processes is still there today.
At the beginning of the sixties, the construction of the motorway boomed and the architecture of the concrete buildings became more and more diverse. The plant was in operation until 1996. For Weil am Rhein, the quarrying of gravel shaped the landscape very much. This makes the building, simply called the “gravel works”, one of the most important monuments of the industrial and transport history of the city and the entire three-country region.
For the state horticultural show "Green 99" the building with its unusual appearance was placed under monument protection and made accessible to the public by the architect Thomas Spiegelhalter from Freiburg.
The futuristic character of the building and the location in front of the “Gardens of the Future” and the state pavilion by Zaha Hadid , entitled Landscape Formation One , spoke in favor of maintaining the mixer .
Restoration and transformation
The building was taken over in 2001 by the sculptor Volker Scheurer and made usable as a gravel works art space, thereby protecting it for the long term. In the beginning it was a binational project, a collaboration with the Swiss artist Bertha Shortiss, who read out the project in 2004. The existing machines, conveyor systems and steel structures were largely integrated into the newly created rooms. Outside, there was a clear demarcation between the historical and new architecture. The new elements were plastered white to create a contrast to the historical part. So far, studio and exhibition rooms have been created and the four silos have been converted into living spaces. A culture stage and a temporary bar were created in the lower area. The former gravel store was made accessible as a “crypt” and also serves as an exhibition and event space. In 2012 the art protection bunker with two lounge areas and another spherical exhibition room was created. The art protection bunker was built over a sloping concrete pit, over which trucks were cleaned in earlier times after the concrete had been transported. Nowadays, the silt-free and cleaned pit serves as the basis for the art shelter. The ready-mixed concrete mixing plant with its constructions will undergo further modifications in the future in order to preserve the listed parts in the long term.
Exhibitions and art projects
Since 2001 the international artists have been constantly brought to Weil am Rhein through lively exhibitions, international symposia, artist in residence and workshops. The two initiators are Volker Scheurer and Ania Dziezewska, who use their international relationships to increase the quality of the art on offer in the region. Through the art projects of Volker Scheurer in Japan, some Japanese artists were invited to exhibitions, performances and symposia, and through Ania Dziezewska many projects (exhibitions, festivals, performances and plays) with Polish participation came about. Artists from the USA, Turkey, Great Britain, Spain, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, France and Italy have also participated in the above. The idea of the project is to preserve the industrial monument, to present the artists and art exhibitions with high-quality works of modern art and to establish the art space as lively and dynamic for all types of social events.
"ART K" exhibitions
Starting in 2001, two large changing exhibitions were presented annually in the Kieswerk art space under the name "ART K".
Paintings, sculptures, graphics, installations, designs, photos and objects by several artists are shown on 1000 m 2 both indoors and outdoors. The exhibitions are the result of collaboration between the in-house artists and their colleagues from all over the world. With its exhibitions, Kunstraum Kieswerk aims to reach as many art enthusiasts as possible and present the various directions of contemporary art.
Events
Today the surreal backdrop of the silos, steel stands, pipes, conveyor belt, stairs and courtyard is used as an ideal background for art exhibitions, gravel works open air festivals, motion festivals, concerts, artist symposiums, various events and other cultural occasions. The events and occasions plan to further establish the industrial history and cultural artistic content of the region. This supports the efforts of the cultural office of the city of Weil am Rhein to make the cultural scene more valuable.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ badische-seiten.de: gravel works Weil am Rhein
- ↑ Culture Development Plan Weil am Rhein: 2005, pp. 31–32
- ↑ Culture Development Plan Weil am Rhein: 2005, p. 32
- ↑ bwgruen.de: 1999 Landesgartenschau Weil am Rhein ( Memento of the original from April 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ badische-seiten.de
- ↑ volker-scheurer-art.com
- ↑ event-der-event.com: premises
- ↑ badische-zeitung.de: ART Kieswerk with over 100 works
- ↑ badische-zeitung.de: Establish Kieswerk as an art space
- ↑ badische-zeitung.de: Motion 4 Avantgarde in the gravel plant
- ↑ kieswerk-open-air.de: Art and Artists ( Memento of the original from September 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
