Picture: gewerk
“There is no emotion, no art, no spoken word, no action, no social institution, indeed no space on this earth that is not connected with water in some way, whether it be material or symbolic, direct or indirect,” (Hartmut Böhme). The exhibition “Blue Gold” was a cultural-historical, cross-section art project which attempted to highlight the complex topic of water in three archetypical pictorial worlds.
At the outset, therefore, visitors found themselves in the midst of a barren desert landscape, in which original found objects represented the story of this essential element with the history of civilisation. For this, over 800 tons of sand were distributed throughout the ground floor of the gasometer. The epitome of lack and shortage, the desert was followed by a second spatial installation representing the waterfall as a symbol of water’s wealth and natural force. In a sound and video installation by Paul Schütze, water flowed upwards in slow motion on 22 projection areas. Light projections provided a reminder of the gods and spirits that have been associated with water in various cultures since time immemorial. Finally, in the arena of the gasometer, a water and light sculpture created especially for the architecture of Oberhausen’s gasometer rose up more than 50 metres into space, staged as a celebration of the precious and beautiful qualities of water. More than 300,000 visitors saw the spectacular presentation of “Blue Gold”.