This time in conversation with Jürgen Büssow, retired District President and board member of 701 e.V.. Lord Mayor Thomas Geisel and Prof. Karl-Heinz Petzinka, Rector of the Düsseldorf Art Academy.
The topic of the evening, which was attended by more than 80 invited guests in the Board Room of Hogan Lovells on the 22nd floor of the Sky Office, was the vision of a Blue-Green Ring in Düsseldorf, which has recently become a plan.
The Blue-Green Ring is to connect the city centre from the Ehrenhof, the Art Academy to the K21, the former Ständehaus, the New State Parliament, with the parks, the Kö, the Opera House, the banks of the Rhine. Over the past 20 years, Düsseldorf has often thought about how to link the art mile from the Ehrenhof to the K21. On the initiative of Lord Mayor Thomas Geisel, an international competition with citizen participation was announced at the end of 2018. Since March/April 2019, 16 concepts have been selected by 60 expert teams and more than 5000 contributions from the citizenry have already been received.
A jury will make a decision in December 2019 and present the winner to the public.
Due to the ongoing process, some questions from the audience about concrete measures and plans could not be answered at this stage. Nevertheless, there was lively discussion, wishes and criticism were expressed and the situation of artists in Düsseldorf was addressed.
Everyone agreed: in January 2020, when the results are available, there will be another discussion on the topic. Mayor Thomas Geisel and Prof. Petzinka have already confirmed this.