Waiting for the River. Emscherkunst 2010 - Warten auf den Fluss

22/06/2011. by Observatorium [Emscher Park] Ruhr area. Essen, Germany
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA

Emscherkunst was the biggest exhibition of visual art during Ruhr2010 Cultural Capital of Europe, which took place on a long stretch of land between a canal and a river in the middle of one of the most intriguing and innovative urban regions. In ten years time the river Emscher, now a sewer canal between dikes will be a natural river again.

Photograph © Observatorium.

Photo © by Observatorium.

Waiting for the River. Emscherkunst 2010. Photograph © Observatorium.

Photo © by Observatorium.

The Observatorium's Andre Dekker gave a lecture —Saturday, 18 June—at the Los Angeles Design Festival 06/15-30/2011.

Waiting for the River is a 125-foot-long inhabitable bridge, complete with dormitories, outdoor eating areas, and a bathroom, built by Dutch art group Observatorium back in 2010. The project was constructed in anticipation of the newly cleaned and renaturalized Emscher River, whose waters will soon flow through the surrounding landscape.

As the artists themselves describe it: "In ten years time the river Emscher—now a sewer canal between dikes—will be a natural river again... Observatorium symbolizes the anticipation of better times and a better environment by building a covered bridge for a river that is not there yet. We invite people to wait 24 hours."

It's a kind of temporally inverted High Line.