Manifesta 16 Ruhr opens on 21 June 2026. As part of the opening programme, the new issue ARCH+ 264 Ruhr: Vom Gebiet zum Raum | From Territory to Space will be published as a survey of this multifaceted region. Its contributions focus on current tensions and possibilities: life amid structural transformation, fragile neighborhoods, and emerging cultural practices. Rather than merely documenting the status quo, this issue of ARCH+ shifts, disrupts, and questions existing narratives.

In place of a linear narrative of industrialization and deindustrialization, it proposes an acknowledgment of multiplicity and asynchronicity. Tradition exists alongside post-migrant perspectives, artistic practices, and forms of self-organization. It is precisely the coexistence of different lived realities, social and cultural worlds, and understandings of identity that shapes the diversity of the Ruhr region.

At stake is a spatial practice of exchange and negotiation, aiming to enable new forms of living together. In this context, relationship-building, local embeddedness, and co-production become increasingly significant.

Sika Azanledji (WerkStadt, PACT Zollverein), Julia Wissert (Schauspiel Dortmund), Petra Jablonická and Christoph Kremerskothen (kitev) will discuss with the guest editors Jan Dröge-Rothaar, Sarah Hübscher, Renée Tribble (TU Dortmund), and Christian Hiller (ARCH+) what these practices look like in concrete terms, the kinds of spaces they produce, and the perspectives they open up for the future.

The event will take place in St. Josef Church, which is being temporarily transformed architecturally through a site-specific spatial installation by the Barcelona-based artist collective Penique Productions as part of Manifesta.

The event will be held in German.
Admission is free. Please register using the registration form.