Idea and vision of urbEXPO

URBEXPO is an invented word, composed of the acronyms UrbEx for urban exploring and EXPO for exhibition. A central feature of urbEXPO is the photography exhibition dealing with Lost Places and the Aesthetics of Decay.

The stated goal of the exhibition is the artistic display and protection of places, which – for whatever reasons – have become marginalized in public perception. Yet, all of them were of major importance in their active periods – be it in the field of (global) politics or in social or economic terms. The photography exhibitions of urbEXPO intend to use arts and aesthetics to bring the audience closer to topics of central importance, like arts, (contemporary) history, politics, architecture and the society and to protect important objects of the past against oblivion.

The artists exhibiting at the photography exhibition will be selected in a way that a rather broad range of photographic positions can be covered. Thus, the board of trustees will view all applications submitted and chose those artworks, which reflect the overall concept of urbEXPO in an optimal way, according to the following criteria:

• as many different objects as possible
• diversity of photographic subjects (interior and exterior photos, general and detailled views)
• different styles (b/w, colour, HDR and DRI)

The photographer and multimedia artist Olaf Rauch from Bochum developed the concept of urbEXPO. At the end of 2011, he conceived the general idea and first implemented it successfully in the rotunda of the central train station in Bochum in August 2012. In August 2013, the second round will start for urbEXPO – with new artists and new exhibits.