18 December 2015 until 13 March 2016
Stadthaus Ulm (small exhibition rooms) (link)
Artwork: Alejandro Cegarra (link)
Curated by: Tommi Brem
Different towers could be seen in and from the Stadthaus Ulm in the winter season 2015/2016.
As always, the building‘s windows open a view to the Ulm Minster with the highest church spire in the world, forming the region‘s identity since its completion in 1890. It is not only a religious symbol, its also a symbol for the determination of the citizens of Ulm who financed the construction since 1377.
Reiner Leist’s long-term project “Window” presented the changing ocean of towers that is New York in hundreds of photos from exactly the same viewpoint. Leist coincidentally documented the fall of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 2011, a building complex that stood for the success of the USA, for world economy and capitalism.
The “Torre de David” offered an interesting contrast. Alejandro Cegarra’s photographs present an intimate glimpse into an abandoned, half-finished skyscraper, illegally occupied by over a thousand people. It’s a metaphor of both the economic failure of the Venezuelan capital and the people‘s longing for a safe home in the world‘s second most dangerous city.
For this exhibition, we used the atrium space above the main entrance, so the audience could only look at the photos from a certain distance. And they had to climb the stairs of the Stadthaus to see all of the works, as well as go out on the Stadthaus’ balconies to see the other side. I thought it’d be appropriate to simulate at least a fraction of the topography of the Torre.