Atelier van Lieshout, 'BarRectum', 2005
800 x 800 x 250 cm
Welcoming Center (Detail)
Copyright Atelier Van Lieshout, Rotterdam, 2008
'Slave City', the latest project of the Dutch artists' collective Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL), on view at the Museum Folkwang until 6 July, is a utopian urban project designed to maximize rationality, efficiency and profit. As a starting point for the project, which began in 2005, Joep van Lieshout worked with contemporary ethical and aesthetic values, ideas on nutrition, environmental protection, organization, management and markets, in order to re-combine and reinterpret them. 'Slave City' aims at complete autonomy, presented as a perversion of a highly modern achievement-oriented society.
The 'Slave City' models (from mini to life-size) present a perfectly conceived and creative city, with comprehensive infrastructure, service buildings, universities, health and shopping centers, villages, brothels and museums. With expected annual profits of 7.8 billion Euro, 78 million Euro is budgeted for the arts.
Joep van Lieshout (1963) founded the artists' collective in 1995. In 2001 he realized AVL-Ville, an independent city-state in Rotterdam harbor. Atelier van Lieshout became internationally well-known in the 1990's with the production of mobile houses and "covers", the conception of which was based on the freedom of movement, flexibility of design and the subversion of government planning approval. Moreover, AVL developed ready to use furniture, functional toilette systems, bunks, living capsules and office units. His Rectum-Bar, in the form of a large digestive tract, can be seen in operation in front of the Museum Folkwang during the course of the exhibition.
Atelier Van Lieshout: Slave City
Until 6 July 2008
Museum Folkwang
Kahrstrasse 16,
45128 Essen
Germany
www.museum-folkwang.de
T +49(0) 201 88 45 301
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