mobile festival laboratory – Experiments in sustainable and people-friendly
utilisation of the public space

To explore how an urban future can be realised with more inspiration, communication and with minimal ecological impact, a mobile laboratory is set up in a car park in the Dortmund city centre. The Labsa e.V. artists‘ collective and selected project partners present future-oriented approaches to finding solutions from the fields of aesthetics and technology. Discussions, lectures, exhibitions and film screenings provide food for thought and action. The core of the Oasis in Concrete is a camper van, which supplies the on-site activities with solar power. The solar mobile forms the core for comfortable seating areas, plants and art to liven up the somewhat desolate looking parking spaces. The aim is to perform this mix of artistic performance and market of possibilities in a personal and authentic atmosphere, in which passers-by and audience can be actively involved and add their own ideas on the subject. Utopias and practicable suggestions for improvement are given equal prominence. Ideas are transformed into possible realities, a place of encounter and discussion is created.

A particular emphasis here is placed on the needs of local citizens to help shape their environment. What answers can Dortmund residents give to the following questions: What is public space, and how should it be used? What are adequate resources to help shape our urban environment? How can we lead a full life without jeopardising the livelihood of other people or being detrimental to nature?

We invite the public to explicitly get involved, to discuss matters, to try things out and get to learn the tools with which they can transform their urban landscape. With a small financial donation that can be fed into parking metres, visitors themselves determine the length of the intervention. In this way, they can expand the space for a multi-faceted and progressive cityscape in an increasingly anonymous and standardised environment.

With the friendly support of the environmental and solar office – Ulrich Krämer, Dortmund