Waterways: exhibition with bremenports

An artistic and creative project about and for inland shipping in cooperation with bremenports

Rivers and canals were a central infrastructure in many places and for a long time. Trade and commerce developed along the waterways and spread out from there. 
Seaports were built at the mouths of rivers. Early maps mainly showed coasts and banks. It is difficult to imagine Bremen and Bremerhaven, for example, without the Weser. Today, transportation and travel by water are becoming increasingly less important. Is this the technically necessary end of an obsolete practice or does it open up possibilities for other uses and forms of inland waterway transport? bremenports is one of the sponsors of the EU project InnoWatr, in which various groups and organizations in Germany, Holland, France and Sweden are openly and speculatively considering the role and potential of inland waterway transport. An expressly desired aspect of this project is the artistic and creative engagement with the topic, which we offer as part of this course. Inland shipping has a transport share of only 4% in the hinterland of Bremen's ports. Nationwide, the modal share of this mode of transport is 7%, compared to 14% 25 years ago.
 

Exclusively technical arguments for the development of inland shipping appear to be in vain in this context, which is why bremenports asked the Integrated Design students to communicate their views on the industry. The result is exciting exhibits and installations that offer different perspectives on the mode of transport, which will be shown in an exhibition on board the MS Dauerwelle in March 2025. 

Lecturers were:
Prof. Tania Prill
Prof. Olav Westphalen
Mathias Lempart & Sascia Reibel (shortnotice.studio)