With NEW POTT. 100 Light /100 Faces, Mischa Kuball has devised a work that examines the multicultural reality of the Ruhr metropolis in Germany. How does one go about depicting the multicultural essence of the region artistically? Mischa Kuball has opted for a participatory project: people and their families from all over the world, now living in the Ruhrgebiet, become active participants in his project. The artist gives them a lamp to illuminate their private space, converting it into a stage - a platform upon which the artist and people from 100 different countries encounter one another. They tell him their life stories and the specific reason for emigrating, as well as reflecting the twilight experience of being stuck between two cultures. In so doing, the bright floor lamps act as illuminated signs of both the encounter and exchange.
The encounters were documented photographically and filmed on video by Egbert Trogemann. Using the photographs of the participants and their respective domestic interiors, Mischa Kuball has created 100 tableaux that can be viewed both in the tradition of comparative photography as well as being read as studies on a multicultural society in transition. The exhibition runs from October 28, 2010 until April 30, 2011 in the Kunstsammlungen der Ruhr-Universität Bochum at the Campusmuseum in Germany.
A conference titled "Relational Art" will take place on January 21- 22, 2011, reflecting upon the issues raised in NEW POTT and incorporating the project into a wider artistic and academic debate. Theorists in the fields of art and letters, social psychologists and international artists will discuss forms, possibilities and potentialities of contemporary participatory art. http://kusa-rub-moderne.de/m250
