IMAGINE THE CITY
The young and experimental cultural program develops exemplary new formats at the intersection between art and city planning in the HafenCity of Hamburg. The goal is to implant artistic perspectives early on and on a long-term base in the processes of urban development–and embed culture indefeasible in civil society.
With its intertwining of urban planning and aesthetic strategies IMAGINE THE CITY also positions itself within an international context in a bid to contribute to current debates on the role that culture plays in the development of future cities. The program is an invitation to look at, and reflect on, the limited range of cultural institutions and establish in the public sphere other notions of what culture can or should be.
Since November 2018 a number of long-term projects are set to intervene in what is still a young urban fabric, under the titular leitmotif IMAGINE THE CITY. To this end, curator Ellen Blumenstein is working alongside Hamburg culture professionals and international creatives to come up together with fictitious arrangements capable of bringing various groups of users into contact with one another. The program sees itself as a vector for potential encounters with, in, and through the urban built-up environment. The outcome is an ever-expanding network of locations in everyday urban life that can be used beyond the realm of consumerism. IMAGINE THE CITY is an invitation to look at, and reflect on, the limited range of cultural institutions and establish in the public sphere other notions of what culture can or should be. The aim, ultimately, is to dispel the fear of the unknown when it comes to culture, firstly by addressing everyday experiences and, secondly, by going beyond the exclusive institutional framework.
