Recap ›Shifting Grounds – IN COMMON‹

To kick off the summer festival ›Shifting Grounds – IN COMMON‹, a performative tour led around the slag heap of Zeche Zollverein, one of the Ruhr region’s oldest coal mines. The performances approached the landscape from various perspectives: through dance, voice, sound, and spatial choreographies.

After a welcome by Stefan Hilterhaus and Danja Burchard and a talk by Prof. Dr. Aletta Bonn on biodiversity on the PACT terrace, the group set off for the slag heap. Along the way, Anna Ehlert from the Zollverein Foundation shared further fascinating insights about the biodiversity of the Zollverein grounds, drawing attention to the flora and fauna along the path.

Upon arriving, visitors were welcomed by ›untitled‹, a performance by caner teker. The performance explored how resistance, vulnerability, and perseverance can be physically articulated.

The tour continued with a work by Annamaria Ajmone. In ›La notte è il mio giorno preferito (To Watch Unseen)‹ that approached the figure of the “other”. Against the natural backdrop of the slag heap, a choreography unfolded that revealed speculative kinships between bodies, animals, plants, and materials.

Next, Alma Söderberg presented a version of ›Infinétude‹ adapted for three performers on the lower section of the slag heap – a multi-layered composition somewhere between concert and dance performance.

The performative walk concluded with a sound intervention by Madison Greenstone together with Jan St. Werner. Madison Greenstone’s clarinet piece and Jan St. Werner’s electronic sounds transformed the site itself into a resonant space, acoustically exploring the large Ulrich Rückriem sculpture on the slag heap.

Following the tour, visitors were invited to round off the evening with a DJ set by Deena Abdelwahed on the PACT terrace.