Liesborn Abbey

"Between Dortmund and Duisburg, white is only a dream," Heinrich Böll noted in 1958 in the foreword to Chargesheimer's Ruhr photographs. In the more than 60 years that have passed since then, structural change has given the Ruhr a new face. Coal-mining minus coal - that was the reason for Stefan Thoben to take stock of the current situation. For four weeks, the Hanoverian journalist explored every nook and cranny between Dortmund and Duisburg, photographing off the beaten track as if he were in the middle of it, and christened his book project with a critical reference to Böll and Chargesheimer: "Ein Traum in bunt" (A dream in colour). The work, published by Andreas Reiffer, is on the shortlist for the Ruhr Literature Prize 2021.

For Thoben, the literature of the Ruhr is the key to discovering the region, which had been unknown to him until then. With texts by Frank Goosen, Hilmar Klute, Ralf Thenior, Erika Runge and Wolfgang Welt in his luggage, Thoben compares the literary descriptions with the present. In an Instagram travel diary, Thoben marries the voices from the Ruhr region with his mostly colourful photos and his own observations. The special exhibition at the Haus Nottbeck cultural estate invites visitors to see the Ruhr region through different eyes, both photographically and literarily.

"A dream in colour" are also the watercolour drawings that the Hagen-based architect Marius Schmahl made of Thoben's photographic motifs. Since 2019, Schmahl has been posting his ever-popular sketches on Instagram as "Pottpinsel", which are the best proof of how wonderfully multifaceted and iconic the Ruhrpott is.

We cordially invite you and your friends to the opening of the exhibition on 30.10.2021 at 1 pm at the Haus Nottbeck cultural estate.

On the occasion of the finissage on 29.01.2022 at 8 pm, the indie rock band Trümmer will present their new album "Früher war gestern" at the Kulturgut.

A project of the Kulturgut Haus Nottbeck in cooperation with the Kreativquartier Ruhrort. With the kind support of Verlag Andreas Reiffer.

The Ruhr region is changing, its inhabited and uninhabited areas are subject to constant change. Capturing impressions and observations there is like taking snapshots in the rapid unwinding of time. On closer inspection, however, they become transparent to the historical dimension that cannot be overlooked in all the changes. Besides Malakow and winding towers, the typical features that shape the landscape of the Ruhr region include its numerous slagheaps, heaped-up monuments from earlier mining days that are now far more than just relics of the coal age. The man-made mountains have not only been developed for leisure and recreation, they also document a changed way of dealing with nature that has become characteristic of the entire region. Nature encounters art and artificial design as in few other regions in Germany; at the same time, the tourist lookout points of the slagheaps represent an ecologically important refuge for plants and animals.

Karl-Heinz Gajewsky and Jürgen Brôcan, both winners of the Ruhr Literature Prize, approach the slag heap phenomenon in different ways. Gajewsky accompanied the Hoheward slag heap between Herten and Herne with his camera for over a year and captured the diverse faces of the seasons. In the process, he covered a total of more than one hundred thousand metres in altitude. In his cycle of poems, Brôcan describes the slagheaps as places that are as mystical as they are concrete, where past, present and future meet in a unique and spectacular way. Going "Auffe Halde" is to be experienced sensually and intellectually by visitors in this exhibition.

We cordially invite you and your friends to the opening of the exhibition at the Museum of Westphalian Literature on 20.02.2022, 3 pm, at the Haus Nottbeck cultural estate in Oelde-Stromberg. On the same day at 5 pm, on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition "Ticket to ride - Frank Goosen on the trail of the Beatles", there will be a reading with Frank Goosen. Tickets can be purchased by telephone or on the internet.

"... the Red Album and the Blue Album are still among the first things I would get out of our house if there was a fire. After the family. Although - they can all walk themselves by now."

The fact that Frank Goosen became a Beatles fan has to do with moonlighting. With the words "Don't give me any money, give me some records for my boy instead!" Goosen Senior had an electrical retailer pay him at the end of the seventies for a few sockets plugged in after work: with Beatles records. That was it for the thirteen-year-old.

"And then my editor asked me if I would like to be in KiWi's music library, and who I would like to write about. I think I had the answer out before he finished the question. I couldn't have borne it if someone else had written about the Beatles."

In his book "Frank Goosen on The Beatles" (KiWi Music Library), Goosen traces his lifelong obsession with the "Fab Four": remembering his childhood and youth in the Ruhr area and the original locations in Liverpool. The

exhibition at Haus Nottbeck is dedicated to the Bochum writer's journey to the hometown of John, Paul, George and Ringo with texts and photographs from Goosen's private photo archive.

Idea/Concept: Walter Gödden

Design: Jeremias H. Vondrlik

At the opening of the exhibition in the Museum of Westphalian Literature on 20.02.2022, Frank Goosen will read from his book, accompanied by Stefanie Hempel (vocals, ukulele/piano), creator of the musical Beatles tour in Hamburg. Tickets (10€/8€) are available by phone or at www.reservix.de. In addition, there is the possibility to attend the opening of the exhibition "Haldenhub - Lyrical and photographic walks by Karl-Heinz Gajewsky and Jürgen Brôcan" already from 3 pm.