Lost places, urbEXPO exhibition in Bochum

The aesthetics of decay, the presence of “lost places” in our daily lives. The urbEXPO exhibition in the renovated Schlegel-Haus, Bochum is still inviting visitors to surrender themselves to the photographs that tell the stories of abandoned buildings until 30 August, stimulating reflection on the structural changes taking place in Germany, and elsewhere.



Who has never at some time been charmed by an old house or an abandoned site? They become canvases that we use to project our fantasies and some of us actually explore them armed with a camera so we can bring back a visual trophy, proof of a “non-place”, namely a place that will very soon no longer exist, either because it will be demolished or - as we hope - repurposed for a new use.



During the vernissage of urbEXPO “Lost Places”, Beauty of Decay and Architecture in Bochum, Germany - a group exhibition in its fourth year and the brainchild of photographer and multimedia artist Olaf Rauch, who began it in 2012 - we talked to some of the 21 photographers who were there about their exhibited artworks and their passion for these visual explorations.





The location, some rooms in the renovated Schlegel-Haus, former brewery in the centre of Bochum, a city in the Ruhr basin that is fighting hard against what appears to be a sad fate where major industrial facilities have closed down - first Nokia, now Opel - also symbolises the theme of the exhibition itself. What will come next? Decay or deliverance? An extremely topical issue - in Germany more due to structural changes, elsewhere mainly because of the economic crisis or lack of infrastructures, if we think of desolate rural areas in addition to industrial facilities standing idle.





From the not-to-be-missed stairwell to the rusty old cars in the middle of a forest, from deserted homes whose furniture looks like the set for a post-war film, to obsolete industrial plants left to their fate - the photos on display capture the beauty of these “lost places”, too beautiful to be forgotten, as a warning to reconsider the models of development.

Christiane Bürklein

Exhibition: urbEXPO Lost Places, Beauty of Decay and Architecture
from 31 July - 30 August
Schlegel-Haus, Bochum, Germany
Images courtesy of urbEXPO, all rights reserved 
Information: http://www.urbexpo.eu/