5 events you can visit for free

16 Aug – 22 Sept 2024

The Salzlager in Essen will be the location for Landscapes of an Ongoing Past, an exhibition by Urbane Künste Ruhr as part of this year’s Ruhrtriennale. In loose correspondence with The Palace of Projects by Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, the exhibition Landscapes of an Ongoing Past shows historical and contemporary works by artists from former socialist Eastern Europe, which examine landscapes that are either still developing or in the process of disappearing. They explore questions of artisanal and industrial production, explore traces of unrealized utopias or reflect on the relationship between architecture and nature. 

A range of free guided tours and workshops will be offered throughout the run time of the exhibition. Registration is now open.

From 16 Aug 2024

With City of Refuge IV, Berlinde De Bruyckere presents the next part of here ongoing series City of Refuge, commissioned by Ruhrtriennale. The sculptor transforms the Turbinenhalle in Bochum into a walkthrough sonorous and audiovisual installation, framed by by two guardian angel sculptures. Materials such as wax, used blankets and other textiles, wood, animal hair and tanned animal skins are fused, resulting in hybrid sculptures in which figures such as humans, animals, nature and the divine are combined.  

29 Aug – 31 Aug 2024

For three days in a row, life-sized artist-built elephants will explore the cities of Duisburg, Essen and Bochum. Presented by the Handspring Puppet Company from South Africa –famous around the world for their fantastic creations –in collaboration with the Ukwanda Puppets & Designs Art Collective, school classes, children and families are invited to take part in this spectacle! They can make their own animal figures at school and at the Festival Centre Wunderland and bring them to life in the parade. A celebration you won’t forget!

During the entire festival

For the next three years our new festival centre Wunderland, designed by Belgian architect Olivier Goethals, will extend around the water tower by the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum. Whether it's party nights on the piazza under the water tower, dance and movement workshops in the Dampfgebläsehaus or Appetizer concerts in the Turbinenhalle – Wunderland is the beating heart of the festival and will bring the Ruhrtriennale’s various different productions together in one place. 

The entire programme at Wunderland is free of charge. Registration is required in advance to take part in the workshops.

18 Aug 2024

Additionally to À la carte, Ioannis Mandafounis and his Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company present another work at this year’s Ruhrtriennale. In One One One, the performers engage physically and mentally, destabilizing a specific idea of reality and allowing them to explore their limits or relationship to transgression. In the simple staging of two imaginary parallel lines on the floor and two chairs placed side by side, the artists invite the audience members to take a seat. The deal: the performers dance for a single audience member at a time, until they decide to stop the performance by simply standing up. A unique experience on the forecourt of the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum. 

More performance will take place from 12 – 15 Sept in the Museum Folkwang in Essen.