The crumbling churches of Germany's Ruhr industrial heartland are being transformed into vibrant hubs of art and community spirit as part of an ambitious regeneration project. The Manifesta 16 biennale, a travelling exhibition that has taken over a dozen disused 'slipper churches' (Pantoffelkirchen), aims to revitalise areas grappling with deindustrialisation and social decline.
These diminutive churches were originally constructed in their hundreds after the Second World War as part of post-war reconstruction efforts, allowing residents to walk to mass in their slippers. However, decades of economic change have seen many fall into disuse; estimates suggest up to 300 are now derelict, with over 100 sold off in the past year alone.
The Ruhr region, encompassing major cities like Essen and Duisburg alongside smaller towns such as Bochum and Gelsenkirchen, faces significant challenges. Decades of deindustrialisation have left parts of the region poorer than East Germany, with Gelsenkirchen recording the highest unemployment rate and the highest vote for the far-right AfD in western Germany.
Manifesta seeks to engage directly with these 'charged territories', using art and community initiatives to re-imagine the social infrastructure of places that can feel economically dysfunctional and socially divided. Josep Bohigas, the Catalan architect and Manifesta curator, has stressed the focus on local communities: "I don't care about churches – I care about neighbourhoods." While some installations feature large-scale contemporary art within the churches, others integrate more subtly.
The flagship venue is the Kulturkirche Liebfrauen in Duisburg, a flamboyant modernist building from 1958. Here, Elizabeth Price's two-screen film draws parallels between WWII bombing memories and the history of modernist Catholic churches built for Irish immigrants in post-war Britain, highlighting the biennale's themes. Running until October, Manifesta positions itself as a 'Capital of Culture'-style event, deliberately decentralising its exhibits to engage with the fabric of smaller towns.