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The story of a different thought

Charlotte Moth

Solo exhibition

15 November – 14 December 2014
Vleeshal (Map)

Curator: Lorenzo Benedetti

The story of a different thought | Charlotte Moth

Marl – a Ruhr city as an urban utopia? Inspired by the now legendary 1950s urban planning project in Marl, British artist Charlotte Mothʼs new film The story of a different thought (2014) explores the secrets and shortcomings of an architectural Gesamtkunstwerk and the many stories entwined within this 'modernism indebted' building complex. The film was made as part of the Production Grant given by the Kunstproduzenten, Cologne, marking the first of its grants to a young, German or international artist in the field of electronic and digital media.

Institutional partners 2013/2014 are the Dutch art foundation Vleeshal, Middelburg, and the Glaskasten Marl Sculpture Museum. In 1957, a competition was held to overhaul the city centre in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia, a once prosperous Ruhr city. The Rotterdam architectural office Van den Broek and Bakema won the competition, beating out prestigious colleagues such as Alvar Aalto, Arne Jacobsen, Hans Scharoun and Rudolf Schwarz with a radical, now seemingly utopian design. They proposed a highly experimental and risky project that integrated both the latest technologies and materials, reflecting on the economic growth of the city in many ways: a building complex was realised with a floating roof structure, and towers with office floors suspended externally from the top down.

The story of a different thought is a collage of photographic, cinematic, archival and scientific materials that conjure associations with various documentary, artistic or poetic roots, interlinked with universal principles of 'flotation and suspension'. The development of conversations with architect Rebecca Loewen of DIN projects in Winnipeg, Canada and Texan writer and poet Joshua Edwards form important tangents in the thinking process surrounding the discoveries and mysteries of Marl as a site.

A story of a different thought is produced and commissioned by Die Kunstproduzenten in cooperation with SBKM/De Vleeshal, Middelburg/NL and Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl Funded and supported by / Media partner: Ministerium für Familie, Kinder, Jugend, Kultur und Sport des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Bezirksregierung Cologne, Kulturamt der Stadt Cologne, Kunststiftung NRW, SK Stiftung Kultur and Art Cologne / StadtRevue, Cologne. An Initiative by SK Stiftung Kultur der Sparkasse KölnBonn.