We are the plane of the gods – Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf

* K.H. Stockhausen

An artistic intervention by Christel Blömeke and Wolfgang Nestler at the Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf 2023, as a joint, indivisible body of work

Artist Christel Blömeke and two-time documenta participant Wolfgang Nestler temporarily transform the Architekturzentrum into a unique energy and power center of life.

The starting and reference point of the installation is Düsseldorf’s Dorotheenheim in Flingern, which was founded more than 100 years ago as a place for women in need and life crises and is now a shelter for the homeless.

The opulent show recalls this place of hope and despair, hardship, solidarity and charity with symbolic rope braces, lights and flowers, with historical furnishings of the Dorotheenheim as well as with the drawings, photos and a figure of the Düsseldorfer Radschläger mounted under the ceiling. A central bible verse, an own composition to the basic and life tone A, regular dance performances and a special offer for the children of the emergency sleeping center are integral parts of the total work of art, which interweaves reason, intellect and all senses visibly, audibly, tangibly and playably.

The richness and life-energizing diversity of the design are carried by an empathy that bridges the gap between art and life and links the compassionate, participatory, social moment indispensably and inseparably with the artistic concern. “We are the plane of the gods” is an appeal to embrace the beautiful and the good within us and carry it into the world.

Martin Seidel