On the sunny, but already autumn-crisp morning of September 21st, the Borderland fellowship holders met at the train station of Kerpen-Buir. Equipped with E-Bikes, they started off into the area of the Hambach Tagebau, the biggest brown coal open pit mining in Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier. Guided by Todde Kemmerich, artist and climate activist, they explored a landscape that has been shaped by industrial mining for over 150 years. A talk with Georg Gelhausen, mayor of the city of Merzenich, introduced the Borderlanders to the complexity of the situation and the reality of living in an area that was (or, in some cases: still is) supposed to be demolished for private profit and public energy supply. An encounter with the climate activists living in the highly controversial forest of Hambach left them with lasting impressions of different approaches to how humans live and interact with nature.
After having finished the tour, everybody regrouped at Raketenstation Hombroich in Neuss. In the calming atmosphere of the guesthouse “Kloster”, they enjoyed dinner and a quiet evening to think back on the day. After having been to an already unusual landscape the day before, Raketenstation Hombroich was another addition to the list of encounters with extraordinary spaces and turbulent pasts.
The next day, tours guided by artist Hans-Willi Notthoff and Mara Sporn, curator at Langen Foundaion, gave insights on the history and uniqueness of Raketenstation Hombroich.
On the sunny, but already autumn-crisp morning of September 21st, the Borderland fellowship holders met at the train station of Kerpen-Buir. Equipped with E-Bikes, they started off into the area of the Hambach Tagebau, the biggest brown coal open pit mining in Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier. Guided by Todde Kemmerich, artist and climate activist, they explored a landscape that has been shaped by industrial mining for over 150 years. A talk with Georg Gelhausen, mayor of the city of Merzenich, introduced the Borderlanders to the complexity of the situation and the reality of living in an area that was (or, in some cases: still is) supposed to be demolished for private profit and public energy supply. An encounter with the climate activists living in the highly controversial forest of Hambach left them with lasting impressions of different approaches to how humans live and interact with nature.
After having finished the tour, everybody regrouped at Raketenstation Hombroich in Neuss. In the calming atmosphere of the guesthouse “Kloster”, they enjoyed dinner and a quiet evening to think back on the day. After having been to an already unusual landscape the day before, Raketenstation Hombroich was another addition to the list of encounters with extraordinary spaces and turbulent pasts.
The next day, tours guided by artist Hans-Willi Notthoff and Mara Sporn, curator at Langen Foundaion, gave insights on the history and uniqueness of Raketenstation Hombroich.
