Manifesta 16 Turns Former Churches into Exhibition Spaces in the Ruhr Region

Manifesta 16, the nomadic European biennial, is taking place in the Ruhr region of Germany, transforming twelve former churches into exhibition venues with free admission. The central question of the edition is what spaces that have lost their original function can offer society today. The podcast "Kunst und Leben" by Monopol and Detektor.fm focuses on the biennial. Monopol editor-in-chief Elke Buhr attended the opening and reports that the exhibition engages with both art and the transformations of the entire region, going into neighborhoods where non-commercial meeting places are lacking. Art is used as a starting point to reflect on the future of vacant churches and new community spaces. Moderator Sarah-Marie Plekat also speaks with curator Gürsoy Doğtaş, who presents works by artists with migration backgrounds in Gelsenkirchen, some of which have never been shown in a museum. Doğtaş emphasizes the importance of former churches becoming open spaces, asking how they can be used differently and as social spaces, hoping that people who previously had no connection to these buildings will perceive them as places of encounter. The episode explores how art connects urban development, memory culture, and migration, and the role of the Ruhr region's history. Manifesta 16 aims to be more than a classical biennial, focusing on participatory projects, surprising artistic discoveries, and the question of what remains after the biennial moves on.