Deutz Central Plant of Fine Arts - A journey through time

Since 2011, Anja Kolacek and Marc Leßle's raum13 project at the Deutz gas engine factory, the former birthplace of the petrol engine, has been opening up new perspectives on an area whose historical past was formative for global motorization. The Deutz Central Plant of Fine Arts sees itself not only as a place of mere historical observation, but rather as a living laboratory of cultural and social experiments. Visitors are invited to embark on a guided tour that links the past, present and future potential of the former factory complex in an interdisciplinary way and creates a tangible dialog. Historical substance meets artistic intervention. The focus is not only on the artistic work, but also on its significance for society: questions of urban transformation, cultural sustainability and social responsibility form subtle guidelines for the concept. The approximately 150-year-old industrial structures of the former Klöckner Humboldt Deutz works have thus been transformed into a living place that makes urban discourses on identity, space and shaping the future visible in a variety of ways. The visit provides insights into the complex field of tension between industrial culture and contemporary urban art and opens up a space that constantly provides impulses for further thought and reflection on urban life and social change.