Events

02. November 2023

Smoking chimneys and clean laundry. Representations of industrial cities in the Ruhr area, especially Marl, in photographic illustrated books and commercials from the 1950s and 1960s

A talk by Prof. Dr. Rolf Sachsse within the lecture series Baukultur in Marl

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Around 1960, the Federal Republic of Germany was again an economically strong industrial state with the corresponding needs for jobs. In order to lure people into the rebuilt or newly founded industrial cities, almost any (advertising) medium was justified: trade fair stands, brochures, illustrated books and also short films that are shown in newsreel or supporting film programs. There are models for these films as well as for the chic photo books that describe life in the city in the most beautiful light and pastel colors. Using the example of Marl and some other cities in the northern Ruhr area, such examples of illustrated books and short films are to be shown, together with their forerunners and after-effects in today's Internet presentations.

Prof. Dr. Rolf Sachsse is a freelance author, artist, curator and photographer. After an apprenticeship as a photographer at schmölz + huth in Cologne, Sachsse worked as an architectural, industrial and documentation photographer. Meanwhile he studied art history, communication research and literature in Munich and Bonn, which he completed in 1983 with a doctorate on a photo-historical topic. From 1980 he held various teaching positions at European art schools. From 2004 to 2017 he was Professor of Design History and Design Theory at the Saar University of Fine Arts in Saarbrücken, from 2013 to 2017 also Vice-Rector for Science and Teaching.

Baukultur in Marl is organized by the Skulpturenmuseum and the Adult Education Center in cooperation with the ruhrmoderne e.V. initiative. The event takes place at 6.30 p.m. in the VHS island (Wiesenstraße 22, 45770 Marl) in room P1 and is free of charge - please register at 02365/50356699 or www.vhs-marl.de.