From protest to performance: "Aktion Bürgerwille neu" recalls the territorial reform in Münsterland
Reenactment on 9 May in Münster
The "Aktion Bürgerwille" (Citizens' Will Campaign) once loudly opposed the state government's plans to change all town and municipal structures in NRW on 1 January 1975. Artist Chryssa Tsampazi is reviving the protests on Friday, 9 May, on the corner of Windthorststraße and Promenade in Münster. Her performance "Aktion Bürgerwille neu" is part of "Schilderwechsel - 50 Jahre Gebietsreform im Münsterland", in which the Kulturbüro beim Münsterland e.V. is presenting five art projects to mark the anniversary of the municipal reorganisation.
"Citizens determine the boundaries of the municipality": when Chryssa Tsampazi and her team bring the theses of the opponents from back then back onto the streets, more than half a century has passed since the protests. As the first petition for a referendum in North Rhine-Westphalia, the "Aktion Bürgerwille" ("Citizens' Will Campaign") aimed to bring about a change in thinking with words and manifestos - and failed. Tsampazi became aware of this while she was researching the regional reform: "In my work, I'm often interested in the perspective of those whose voice didn't prevail." As an artist who deals with social processes and collective memories, the subject of the referendum was particularly exciting. "I was interested in how the events can be made visible again today without simply having to stage them. Which questions about political participation are still relevant? In this context, I also found the idea of re-enactment interesting - in other words, bringing moments from the past to life with today's tools and new perspectives," says Tsampazi, who was born in Rheine in 1975 shortly after the regional reform.
Chryssa Tsampazi surprised the people of Hiltrup with her first performance on 5 April. "Resist the incorporation", they were told via a megaphone announcement from a VW Beetle covered in protest posters. An archive photo had inspired Chryssa Tsampazi to create this faithful re-enactment - true to the title of her project: "Aktion Bürgerwille neu". In Münster, the performance is based on the theses of the referendum. Tsampazi: "The focus is on the concept of the echo - as an artistic means, but also as a metaphor: What remains of political movements in the collective memory? What still resonates in the present? The performance sees itself as a kind of bridge between then and now, between what has been forgotten and what can be heard again."
The performance can be experienced on Friday, 9 May, from 5 p.m. on the corner of Windthorststraße and Promenade in Münster.
All information can be found at www.muensterland.com/schilderwechsel.
"Schilderwechsel" is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science NRW (funding programme RKP - Regionales Kultur Programm NRW), Volksbank Westmünsterland eG, Werte-Stiftung-Münsterland and Stiftung Kunst und Kultur Münsterland. The project is also supported by the LWL Cultural Foundation as part of the cultural programme for the anniversary year 2025 "1250 Years of Westphalia". The patron of this cultural programme is Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
