Shaft characters
SchachtZeichen is a key project of RUHR.2010 - European Capital of Culture in the field of “Understanding the Myth of the Ruhr”. It was at this art installation to visualize locations of (mostly) former coal shafts in the Ruhr area with the aim to make the structural change to see and experience.
The idea
The idea of Volker Bandelow, the head of the Ruhr2010 cultural office in Gelsenkirchen, was to visualize the history of mining and the structural change in the Ruhr area. His intention: to create awareness for the structural change, an action to remember and exchange with one another and to create a sense of community. This should initiate actions by local associations, institutions, successor users and cities below and in the vicinity of the balloon locations.
The locations
From May 22 to 30, 2010, yellow helium balloons rose at 311 locations in the entire Ruhr area to symbolically mark the few still active and the many former mining shafts and collieries . Most of the sites are now used for other purposes, they are fallow land, industrial sites, shopping centers or housing estates and are no longer directly visible through winding towers . The locations were selected from the more than 3,300 earlier shafts according to the period (from 1910), type of shaft (deep shaft), number of employees (no small mines ), shaft type (no weather shafts ) and current location conditions (accessibility, development, etc.). Concurrent multiple systems were only marked by a single balloon.
The shaft signs
The balloon had a diameter of 3.70 meters, and an 18 meter long banner hung directly from it. It was made of yellow PVC and was filled with helium . A rope connected it to the breakpoint, a weighted car trailer on which the manually operated winch was also mounted. The maximum hovering height was 80 meters, depending on the local conditions such as buildings and air flow. At night, the balloons were completely lowered for reasons of flight safety, during the night shaft signs they were pulled down to a lower height. In order to be able to let the balloons rise, a release permit from the district governments and the German Air Traffic Control was required for each individual location in accordance with the Aviation Act .
The costs for each location amounted to 5,000 euros (excluding sales tax) and were largely financed by local sponsors. By the end of 2009, not all 400 planned locations had been financially secured. Anyone who financed a balloon was named as the balloon sponsor on site and on the campaign's website. Following the campaign, the trailers etc. were sold at a fixed price that was well below their market value.
The training of the 1,800 balloon helpers and the provision of the entire balloon technology was carried out by the aviation company GEFA-Flug from Aachen. In total, more than 2100 helpers took part in the project, and more than 5000 participants took part in the numerous events under the balloons.
In 2009, several test setups and public relations campaigns took place, including in the Nordsternpark , at the Baldeneysee and during the 24-hour KulturRuns in Oberhausen.
Interruption
On May 24, 2010, two days after the start of the campaign, the shaft signs were temporarily interrupted due to strong winds. All balloons had to be brought down to the ground. The reason for this was that one of the helium balloons in Recklinghausen broke loose and flew away. In addition, several others had been damaged by the violent winds. The project was started again on the same day for the night lighting, but the balloons were only allowed to rise to a height of 30 meters.
gallery
Shaft drawing balloon over Zollverein at the opening event of Ruhr2010
Trailer with balloon, secured, in the background the filled helium bottles
pendant
Gas bottles, winch, pressure reducing valve
Shaft sign above the Sterkrade colliery and its headframe May 2010
Shaft sign above the OPEL building in Bochum
Shaft mark above the Malakow tower of the former Hannover colliery, Bochum-Hordel
Shaft sign next to Shaft XII of the World Heritage Site Zeche Zollverein, Essen (taken from the Schurenbachhalde about 3.5 km to the north )
Emschertal, seen from the Tippelsberg in Bochum
Former colliery with the Teutoburgia settlement in Herne
From: The Magnificent Seven stockpile Rheinelbe seen from
Shaft IV of the former Gneisenau colliery in Dortmund Derne
Shaft sign Night shot of shafts II and IV of the former Gneisenau colliery in Dortmund Derne
Individual evidence
- ^ Gelsenkirchen: Ruhr2010-Winner , WAZ December 29, 2010
- ↑ The idea of SchachtZeichen ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , schachtzeichen.de
- ↑ a b The concept ( Memento of the original from October 2, 2012 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. , schachtzeichen.de
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: broadcast “Schachtzeichen” , WDR, Studio Dortmund, October 15, 2009
- ↑ info from Gefaflug the number of assistants ( Memento from 1 September 2012 at the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Airmail - News from GEFA-FLUG ( Memento from September 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), www.luft-werbung.de
- ↑ RUHR.2010 major project SchachtZeichen will take place from May 22 to 30, 2010. on: schachtzeichen.de (to the dimensions of the project)
- ^ Ruhr.2010: Storm tore up Werner's shaft sign balloon.
Web links
- Ruhr.2010: Website of the shaft mark
- Ruhr.2010: Understanding the myth of the Ruhr