ExtraSchicht - The summer festival of the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 on 19 June

Since its premiere in 2001, ExtraSchicht has been bringing the fascination of an entire region to a single point. The subtitle, "Night of Industrial Culture" reveals at once the original aim of the festival in its first years: ExtraSchicht takes former industrial plants, active production facilites, mines and slagheaps, and skilfully turns them into venues of industrial culture, making clear the transformation from heavy industry to a modern region of business and culture. In doing so, it creates an atmosphere that could only be generated in the Ruhr Area, because of its history.

Industrial culture is the acme of the region's structural transformation. Where coal and steel once shaped life, today we see presentations of art, culture and nature. The Ruhr Area has many factors to thank for this metamorphosis, including the International Construction Exhibition (IBA) Emscher Park. From 1989 to 1999, the entire Emscher region was turned into a vast park. Former industrial wastelands were saved from dereliction and transformed into witnesses to industrial history. Decommissioned mines and mine buildings now serve as venues for music, dance and theatre, former production facilities now provide space for leisure and relaxation. At the end of ten years of activity, the IBA created the "industrial culture Route". Since its very beginnings, the aim of ExtraSchicht has been to arouse interest for the 400 kilometres of the route, and to play the structural and technical monuments of industrial history, museums and sites of the transformation with artistic productions. This is because the former production sites are not places for melancholy memories, having long since developed into lively spaces of industrial culture and attractive venues.

Imaginative productions by international artists allow the venues of industrial culture to be seen from a new perspective for ExtraSchicht. Simultaneously, the Night of Industrial Culture with its very special atmosphere positively charges up the image of the Ruhr Area. Mobility and accessibility in the region are likewise elements of the concept. When shows are running concurrently at 50 locations in the region, travelling between them is part of the experience. As such, ExtraSchicht is not only bringing shows on stage all over the region, but also sets the entire Metropolis Ruhrin motion.

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