The “Central Works of Fine Arts” in the former headquarters of Klöckner Humboldt Deutz has to close. The artists of the initiative “Raum13” are packing art and technology together with disappointed supporters. Stages and, in some cases, elaborate installations in the historic premises on Deutz-Mülheimer Straße are being dismantled. After the bailiff has stipulated the enforcement of the corresponding regional court judgment for April 29th, an “innovative and future-oriented development towards a mixed, urban quarter oriented towards the common good will come to an abrupt end,” says a joint declaration by the artists, their art and Scientific advisory board as well as the supportive circle of friends and initiative.
After months of struggling and advertising, the result is sobering: The city has not succeeded in implementing a unanimous council resolution that paves the way for a new form of urban development in which art and culture should play a special role. The “Raum 13” initiative should remain an “anchor point” in the development of the district. In the past few years, the artists had initiated more than just classical art projects. Rather, a kind of think tank for Cologne’s urban development was created with the participation of scientists, architects, monument conservationists, financial experts and other artists. A historic place in Cologne’s industrial history should be preserved and become the setting for something new.
No agreement with the owners
But the city did not succeed in getting the owner of the former KHD headquarters to negotiate. He wants to sell, but apparently not to the city. His termination of the contract with the artists was confirmed by the district court. The artists had hoped that the mayor and building department at least managed to get an agreement with the regional company “NRW Urban”, which owns the area behind the listed main administration building. There are rooms and open spaces that would have enabled the artists to continue working in the so-called “Otto and Langen Quarter” and not have to give up the future-oriented idea entirely. But now this hope has also been disappointed: “Out of liability and traffic safety liability”, “under no circumstances can an area be made available”, Markus Greitemann, Head of Construction, passes on the assessment of the state without contradiction.
The artists of the “Raum13” initiative, Anja Kolacek and Marc Leßle, in the neat, listed stairwell
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The assessment is surprising, as the artists have long been using rooms in the “NRW-Urban” property. There is also a large open area with a concrete floor near a green corridor, on which you could set up containers or a large tent. A request from the Cologne SPD members of the state parliament Martin Börschel and Jochen Ott in the state parliament, who once again call on the state government to act, aims in a similar direction. The artists have called on the Cologne CDU to be more committed. It must be possible that its boss and member of the state parliament, Bernd Petelkau, finds a solution with the CDU-led state building ministry in the interests of the city and in the interests of art and culture, says “Raum 13” managing director Marc Leßle.
Green OB criticizes the city
Some of the art that has already been dismantled will be transported to Wuppertal, where the local green mayor Uwe Schneidewind has made a hall available. The Wuppertal mayor – at the same time an expert on sustainable urban development as a scientist – had sharply criticized those responsible in Cologne in an interview: Anyone who wasted the opportunity to take over the area because of a few million euros would sin against their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Schneidewind alluded to the difference between the sales price requested by the owner of the KHD headquarters and the ideas of the city leaders about the value of the property.
The city’s top continues to assume that it can turn the “Otto and Langen Quarter” into something future-oriented. However, the way to get there remains unclear. Above all, however, the long-term expectations of those responsible do not at all match the short-term needs of the local art initiative. Lessle speaks of ignorance. “We are appalled that despite multiple clear expressions of will and council resolutions by the democratic forces in the council, they are apparently not even worth the paper they are on.”
No answer from the new council alliance
The supporters are also annoyed. 35 of them – including the IHK managing director Ulrich Soenius – wrote a letter to the new council of the Greens, CDU and Volt three weeks ago. They praise the fact that the project made it into the parties’ alliance agreement and ask what specific consequences this will have. To date they have not received an answer.
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