Wed 15.10.2008 PHOENIX Traum

In Dortmund-Hörde, the two former steelworks sites PHOENIX West and PHOENIX East are currently being redeveloped. According to the German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, this is one of the ten most significant urban development projects in Germany. With this project, the Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV) invites young people to share their ideas for the future of these transforming areas.

As part of the project, participants interview local residents of Hörde as well as former steelworkers. Drawing on these conversations, they create staged photographic works that combine the area's industrial history with the official redevelopment plans and their own visions for the future.

Project Objectives

The developments already underway—including Phoenix Lake and the new high-quality residential neighbourhoods on PHOENIX East, as well as the technology campus on PHOENIX West—will fundamentally reshape the Dortmund district of Hörde over the coming years.

The project's aim is to mediate this transformation. Students receive background information about the redevelopment before developing their own ideas and perspectives. By interviewing local residents, they engage with a wide range of opinions, including scepticism towards change expressed by older generations. In this way, participants gain a deeper understanding of the transformation taking place in their own neighbourhood while acting as mediators between long-standing traditions and new visions.

The staged photographs combine visual references to the industrial past with the students' ideas, the perspectives of Hörde residents and the official redevelopment plans. The resulting works are presented in an exhibition at PHOENIX Halle on the redevelopment site.

The exhibition creates a space for dialogue between generations, between industrial heritage and future development, and between local schools, urban planners, the Hörde district marketing initiative and the wider public. A printed publication featuring the photographs and project ideas is distributed to the city's decision-makers and planners, while the website www.phoenix-traum.de makes the results publicly accessible.