Summit at Healing Complex

A summit concludes the first phase of Healing Complex (2018–ongoing), a joint project by Irena Haiduk and Urbane Künste Ruhr.

Initiated and realized by Irena Haiduk and Urbane Künste Ruhr under the artistic direction of Britta Peters, the Healing Complex (2018–ongoing) has been open to the public since June 3, 2022, in Gelsenkirchen-Erle. At the center of this work, developed specifically for the Ruhr region, is a communal multi-purpose oven powering a public bakery and a forthcoming sauna area, a nourishing and warm place in line with methods used to heal and restore natural habitats in this former industrial region. Healing Complex is supported by an economy of labor exchange free of traditional means of money-based transactions. The economic concept in the Healing Complex includes engraved furniture by Irena Haiduk, used for on-site frottage, as well as a wide range of workshop activities.

The classic post-war modernist church St. Bonifatius, which hosts the long-term project, was built by Essen architect Ernst von Rudloff in 1964 and deconsecrated in 2014. It features a folding roof structure, consisting of 78 identical triangular panels, which were cast on the ground, assembled and then lifted onto the eight concrete pillars using hydraulics. The building consists almost exclusively of hexagonal elements crowned by a continuous band of windows connecting the ceiling with the non-load-bearing exterior walls. Currently owned by a local bakery, the building is being leased by Urbane Künste Ruhr until autumn 2023. Until then, the Healing Complex continues to evolve through everyday use. In the past five months, the location has been used for a wide range of functions, such as public baking events, workshops, lectures, a vacation program and an international summer school. Hours of operation and further information can be found at healingcomplex.net.

The first phase of the Healing Complex (2018–ongoing) concludes in November with a summit. During this time, two mobile saunas will be installed in the car park in front of the building, while inside, Third Space issues will be discussed at various project presentations. Under the title Reinigungsrituale und andere Flüsse (Purification Rituals and Other Rivers), two films about the permanent Emscherkunstweg sculpture trail will be presented in the afternoon.

Visitors are warmly invited to come and spend the day relaxing in the sauna and celebrating the closing event at the Healing Complex. In March 2023, the second phase of the project will continue with new ideas.

Healing Complex: Summit—A day of conversations and sauna
November 12, 2022

11am: Warm up: heating up the saunas and open workshops
1pm: Impulse lectures and project presentations
4pm: Reinigungsrituale und andere Flüsse (Purification Rituals and Other Rivers): Screening of two films on the Emscherkunstweg with artist talk
6pm: Final discussion and cooking together
8pm: Closing with a DJ set

With Samia Abed, Sajida Al Shikan, Nikity and Anna Cainelli (E.P.I.Q. DJ Collective), Irena Haiduk, Florine Lindner, Marijke Lukowicz, Britta Peters, Kollektiv RISS and Golden Diskó Ship, Alina Schmuch, Ani Schulze, Florian Tampe, Tim Voss and other guests

The detailed program as well as information on the use of the saunas can be found at urbanekuensteruhr.de. The current Covid-19 regulations apply. We recommend wearing a medical face mask.

Free admission. 

Regular opening hours at Healing Complex
Thursday 2–6pm, Friday–Sunday 11am–6pm

Irena Haiduk directs Yugoexport, an oral corporation whose founding logic is equivalence, loyalty, and familial solidarity between people and things. Initiated as a copy of the former Yugoslav apparel and weapons manufacturer Jugoeksport, Yugoexport is formally incorporated in the United States (where corporations are people), launched in Paris and headquartered in New York, Yugoexport transacts slowly, at the pace of their own economy. Their maxim, "How To Surround Your Self With Things In The Right Way", is the core principle powering the production of images, books, apparel, orations, films, scenographies, and variable spaces, all designed to nourish the organ of imagination.

Urbane Künste Ruhr is a polymorphous decentralized institution for contemporary art in the Ruhr region, under the artistic direction of Britta Peters since January 2018. Founded following the Capital of Culture year Ruhr.2010, Urbane Künste Ruhr works together in co-operation with local and international partners to initiate projects in public spaces, exhibitions, residency programs and events. A long-term cooperation project is the permanent sculpture trail Emscherkunstweg, which is implemented together with the Emschergenossenschaft and the Regionalverband Ruhr.
Along with the Ruhrtriennale, Tanzlandschaft Ruhr and ChorWerk Ruhr, Urbane Künste Ruhr is part of Kultur Ruhr GmbH, whose proprietors are the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Regionalverband Ruhr and whose headquarters is located in Bochum.