Guterstoff Residency

Guterstoff Residency – Merzenich & Hambach Mining Region

Format: Field Research, Sound/Movement Recording & Work-in-Progress Presentation (20 min Dance Performance)

Location: Cubity, Merzenich, Germany

Period: September 17 – September 27, 2026 (Werkschau : September 26)

Context & Historical Background

The Rhenish mining area around Merzenich holds a deeply complex history shaped by decades of open-cast lignite mining (Tagebau Hambach). To make way for industrial extraction, ancient ecosystems like the 12,000-year-old Hambach Forest (Hambacher Forst) were systematically cleared, while historic villages such as Manheim and Morschenich (now renamed Bürgewald) were displaced, leaving behind desolate “ghost towns” emptied of their former communities.

From September 17 to 27, 2026, I participated in the Guterstoff Residency at Cubity in Merzenich alongside nine artists from various disciplines. Over several days, we conducted intensive field research across the region, visiting the mining edge (Abbruchkante), navigating the ghost towns of Manheim and Bürgewald, capturing field recordings, and interviewing local activists who have spent years protesting ecosystem destruction. We also engaged in direct dialogues with representatives from local planning offices (including the Zukunftswerkstatt / Mayor’s Office) to discuss their top-down urban development concepts and future plans for these emptied structures and land.

Artistic Inquiry & Concept (Work-in-Progress)

What struck me most during this field research was the profound irony surrounding the region’s future transition. After decades of violent extraction and displacement, current master plans envision flooding the massive open-pit mine to transform it into an artificial lake resort. This idea of damaging nature over generations, only to subsequently “re-cultivate” it through artificial flooding, felt deeply absurd, a cynical cycle of inflicting harm and then offering a superficial cure.

This observation inspired my central motif: the IV drip (saline infusion) as a symbol for an artificial, forced life-support system applied to a severely scarred territory.

During the public Werkschau showcase on September 26, I presented a 20-minute movement research and dance presentation. Translating field recordings, spatial tension, and bodily resistance into choreography, this work-in-progress explored the physical friction between a wounded landscape, artificial intervention, and human memory.