From September 11 to 14, 2025, an unusual location on the Cologne wholesale market grounds will become the stage for what has remained unsaid. BOTIN – a mixed-abled production by Un-Label, invites people to anonymously submit messages they never sent. Messages that were too angry, too vulnerable, too late, or simply never finished find a place here and their first and last stage.
The performance takes place on the Cologne wholesale market grounds – among market stalls, trucks, and piles of garbage. Here, a temporary archive for unsent messages is created. An experienced team of archivists and artistic researchers receives, sorts, interprets, and transforms each message. This amplifies what has not been heard before. Become the recipient of many different, authentic messages – maybe even your own or that of the person next to you.
Because before visitors are allowed to penetrate the core of the archive – the sorting center – their own part of the work begins. Everyday life must be put aside – everything that prevents us from truly listening. In a performative act, hastily typed messages, voice notes, one's own story are dismantled together. Only this personal archiving process opens the way to the sorting center – and creates space for what really matters: the unheard.
Participate & Submit: You can submit contributions anonymously – through a digital mailbox. Personal data is neither collected nor published. The entire process is anonymous. The messages form the basis for the performative archival work.
BOTIN is supported by:
Fonds Darstellende Künste from funds of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
Ministry for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Cultural Office of the City of Cologne
The performance takes place on the Cologne wholesale market grounds – among market stalls, trucks, and piles of garbage. Here, a temporary archive for unsent messages is created. An experienced team of archivists and artistic researchers receives, sorts, interprets, and transforms each message. This amplifies what has not been heard before. Become the recipient of many different, authentic messages – maybe even your own or that of the person next to you.
Because before visitors are allowed to penetrate the core of the archive – the sorting center – their own part of the work begins. Everyday life must be put aside – everything that prevents us from truly listening. In a performative act, hastily typed messages, voice notes, one's own story are dismantled together. Only this personal archiving process opens the way to the sorting center – and creates space for what really matters: the unheard.
Participate & Submit: You can submit contributions anonymously – through a digital mailbox. Personal data is neither collected nor published. The entire process is anonymous. The messages form the basis for the performative archival work.
BOTIN is supported by:
Fonds Darstellende Künste from funds of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
Ministry for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Cultural Office of the City of Cologne
Dates
Useful Information
Price info
Price adult: €15.00
Price reduced: €10.00
Supporter: €19.00
Assistant has free admission
Eligibility
Suitable for any Weather
Target Group Teenager
Target Group Adult
Target Group Family
Target Group the Elderly
for Groups
for Class
for familys
for individual guests
More information
Accessibility
The Old Auction Hall is located on the Cologne wholesale market site. The hall will be signposted on the visiting dates.
Barrier-free access by public transport
The venue can be reached via the stops Marktstraße (bus lines 132, 133), Bonntor (bus line 106) and Chlodwigplatz (subway lines 15, 16, 17 and bus lines 106, 132, 133, 142). It is 350 m on foot from the Marktstraße stop, 650 m from the Bonntor stop and approx. 1.1 km from Chlodwigplatz. All bus lines are low-floor bus lines.
Barrier-free access by car
There are parking spaces in front of the Alte Versteigerungshalle. The entrance to the wholesale market grounds is via Bischofsweg. There you have to cross a barrier and take a ticket. Parking is free of charge. To navigate to the venue, enter "Alte Versteigerungshalle" on Google Maps to be guided to the building.
Spatial accessibility
The rooms of the Alte Versteigerungshalle are at ground level and accessible for wheelchair users. All seats are at ground level. Wheelchair spaces can be selected flexibly.
There is no wheelchair-accessible toilet in the Alte Versteigerungshalle. A wheelchair-accessible porta-potty will be provided.
Contact for accessibility
Please indicate your accessibility requirements when purchasing tickets. If you have any questions about accessibility or other needs and access requirements, please contact us by e-mail at botin@un-label.eu or by telephone on 0221 - 5501544 (working days 10-17 hrs).
Accessibility
Everyone should be able to enjoy their visit to the archive.
The staff of the performative archive therefore use simple, understandable German spoken language as far as possible.
For blind people and people with visual impairments, audio-descriptive elements have been woven into the performative process of the visit.
During their visit, visitors walk short distances through the ground-floor archive. Sufficient seating is provided.
There is a guidance system for people who use a long cane.
Braille is integrated into the interior design of the space for better orientation.
Assistance dogs are very welcome.
For public visits to the archive, assistants are available to move through the premises. A pick-up service from the nearest Marktstraße public transport stop is also available by prior arrangement. Both must be communicated when purchasing tickets.
Some of the visits are translated into sign language.
Visitors can leave and re-enter the archive at any time during their visit.
The Old Auction Hall is located on the Cologne wholesale market site. The hall will be signposted on the visiting dates.
Barrier-free access by public transport
The venue can be reached via the stops Marktstraße (bus lines 132, 133), Bonntor (bus line 106) and Chlodwigplatz (subway lines 15, 16, 17 and bus lines 106, 132, 133, 142). It is 350 m on foot from the Marktstraße stop, 650 m from the Bonntor stop and approx. 1.1 km from Chlodwigplatz. All bus lines are low-floor bus lines.
Barrier-free access by car
There are parking spaces in front of the Alte Versteigerungshalle. The entrance to the wholesale market grounds is via Bischofsweg. There you have to cross a barrier and take a ticket. Parking is free of charge. To navigate to the venue, enter "Alte Versteigerungshalle" on Google Maps to be guided to the building.
Spatial accessibility
The rooms of the Alte Versteigerungshalle are at ground level and accessible for wheelchair users. All seats are at ground level. Wheelchair spaces can be selected flexibly.
There is no wheelchair-accessible toilet in the Alte Versteigerungshalle. A wheelchair-accessible porta-potty will be provided.
Contact for accessibility
Please indicate your accessibility requirements when purchasing tickets. If you have any questions about accessibility or other needs and access requirements, please contact us by e-mail at botin@un-label.eu or by telephone on 0221 - 5501544 (working days 10-17 hrs).
Accessibility
Everyone should be able to enjoy their visit to the archive.
The staff of the performative archive therefore use simple, understandable German spoken language as far as possible.
For blind people and people with visual impairments, audio-descriptive elements have been woven into the performative process of the visit.
During their visit, visitors walk short distances through the ground-floor archive. Sufficient seating is provided.
There is a guidance system for people who use a long cane.
Braille is integrated into the interior design of the space for better orientation.
Assistance dogs are very welcome.
For public visits to the archive, assistants are available to move through the premises. A pick-up service from the nearest Marktstraße public transport stop is also available by prior arrangement. Both must be communicated when purchasing tickets.
Some of the visits are translated into sign language.
Visitors can leave and re-enter the archive at any time during their visit.
Nearby
