Boris Sieverts
Büro für Städtereisen
25 Aug - 30 Sep 2007
For the last 10 years, Boris Sieverts has guided people through urban landscapes. He started in Cologne, on the right side of the Rhine – right outside his doorstep. Additional tours in Cologne continued, followed by an entire series in the Ruhr area, Paris, Rotterdam and other cities. He also returned to Cologne to give tours time and again.
Since 2000, he has offered these tours through his Büro für Städtereisen (City Tour Office). The one- or multiple-day tours lead people through areas of the city far away from the centre and popular tourist destinations – to places people would not normally visit. It is exactly these fringe areas, whether inside or outside the city, as well as spots between densely populated regions, which remove people from their normal societal contexts. Participants gain a perspective of the range and diversity of space possible when nothing needs to be put in its place. Sieverts’ walking and cycling tours unite rundown areas and housing estates of all kinds, car parks, demolition sites, man-made lakes, forests, meadows, gardens, motorways, schools, harbours, asylum-seekers’ hostels, railway tracks, exercise areas, industrial estates, airports, tunnels, underground car marks, cul-de-sacs, beaten paths, flood plains, waste dumps and many other sites to create tours of space ranging from the beautiful to the grotesque.
Boris Sieverts created a programme of eight tours for the exhibition at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, seven of which are in Cologne and surrounding areas. Some of the tours were designed years ago, others are being conducted for the first time. This is a unique opportunity for people to experience unexplored areas of city in this agglomeration in a concentrated period of time. Boris Sieverts’ Büro für Städtereisen, enables us to focus on the practice of art outside of the conventional art market and the exhibition format. His work is a functioning form of the service of art. In keeping with this idea, Boris Sieverts’ tour office will be relocated to the Kunstverein, and the Kunstverein will become a site of business. Sieverts will also hold so-called Google Earth lectures on four Wednesday evenings: He has selected colleagues to assist in the discussion, people with a fascinating interest and ability in talking about their relationship to their environment. Sieverts will integrate virtual flights and projected images into his discussion of near and remote locations. The audience can suggest different cities, make comments or just listen.
Since 2000, he has offered these tours through his Büro für Städtereisen (City Tour Office). The one- or multiple-day tours lead people through areas of the city far away from the centre and popular tourist destinations – to places people would not normally visit. It is exactly these fringe areas, whether inside or outside the city, as well as spots between densely populated regions, which remove people from their normal societal contexts. Participants gain a perspective of the range and diversity of space possible when nothing needs to be put in its place. Sieverts’ walking and cycling tours unite rundown areas and housing estates of all kinds, car parks, demolition sites, man-made lakes, forests, meadows, gardens, motorways, schools, harbours, asylum-seekers’ hostels, railway tracks, exercise areas, industrial estates, airports, tunnels, underground car marks, cul-de-sacs, beaten paths, flood plains, waste dumps and many other sites to create tours of space ranging from the beautiful to the grotesque.
Boris Sieverts created a programme of eight tours for the exhibition at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, seven of which are in Cologne and surrounding areas. Some of the tours were designed years ago, others are being conducted for the first time. This is a unique opportunity for people to experience unexplored areas of city in this agglomeration in a concentrated period of time. Boris Sieverts’ Büro für Städtereisen, enables us to focus on the practice of art outside of the conventional art market and the exhibition format. His work is a functioning form of the service of art. In keeping with this idea, Boris Sieverts’ tour office will be relocated to the Kunstverein, and the Kunstverein will become a site of business. Sieverts will also hold so-called Google Earth lectures on four Wednesday evenings: He has selected colleagues to assist in the discussion, people with a fascinating interest and ability in talking about their relationship to their environment. Sieverts will integrate virtual flights and projected images into his discussion of near and remote locations. The audience can suggest different cities, make comments or just listen.