Raumlabor | Soap Opera

The transformation of the former colliery into a cultural location evokes a cleaning process. In the real mine, the underground part of the world remains inaccessible, experienced only as an idea. Outside, a luminous mist of bubbles floats between the old bath house, the shaft tower and the grove of birch trees. The visitors immerse themselves into the froth and reach interior foam spaces, from which they have singular views of the shaft tower and surrounding buildings.

The dense foam is illuminated from within. It is made of transparent, oversized latex balloons, some filled with helium and some with air.

A suffusion of sound inside the foam provides a further level of experience and perception, recalling noises and sounds of the past as a distant reminiscence. For a few hours, the precision and hardness of the architecture and its materials are confronted with the soft, incomprehensible form of ephemeral foam.

After the performance, the foam gradually dissolves. The audience – the real actors of this performance – take it along with themselves.

Realized with the kind support of AIR LIQUIDE Germany GmbH

 Name:  Soap Opera

 Location:  Ruhr

 Investor:  Ruhr.2010 - Cultural Capital of Europe

 Authors:  Raumlabor | Francesco Apuzzo, Manfred Eccli, s Elenou Krämer, Jeanette Kunsmann, Florian Stirnemann, Silvia Szczutowski a Tim Maaßen