Residence: KATRIEN LIGT, REBECCA WENZEL, HEID & GRIESS: OBENSTADT ÖFFNET DAS DACH

Investigating Roofs as Urban Spaces

How can we create a sustainable city?
Like many larger cities, Rotterdam and Hamburg face problems such as a lack of space and climate problems. Moreover, the question of whether the city still belongs to everyone is being asked increasingly loudly. Cities must also seek solutions to climate change (heat, flooding) and to the question of what the function of a city center should and can be in the future. According to obenstadt, the solution lies in the city itself, a few meters higher than the street: on the roof! This potential is often forgotten because this space is usually literally invisible, despite the many possibilities on the top floor of the city: In Rotterdam, there is more than 18.5 km2 of flat roof space that is hardly used. In Hamburg, there is even more than 37 km2.

obenstadt öffnet die Stadt is an artistic research project by Katrien Ligt that aims to contribute to the city of the future. During a residency of a week under (and on!) the roof of the Goethe-Institut Rotterdam, questions about the urban roof will be explored: How can a roof contribute to an inclusive, sustainable city? How can a roof be opened? How can we make roofs accessible?

A small, interdisciplinary group of German and Dutch artists will explore the possibilities of our institute roof during the residency. Private work sessions on the roof will be interspersed with a public program. Meetings with roof experts, staying on roofs: Exchange of knowledge and experience are central. During the residency, the participants keep a roof book in which they report daily from the roof.

ATTENDEES:
• Katrien Ligt (NL/DE), roof curator
• Rebecca Wenzel (DE), interior designer and scenographer
• Alexandra Grieß (DE), sound artist, DJ and photographer
• Jorel Heid (DE), designer and carpenter

On 7 July 2022 at 19:00 the artists will publicly present their research results at the Goethe-Institut Rotterdam.