How about a picture puzzle this weekend?

Art Points 2019. Open studios in Düsseldorf on 14-15/09/2019 and 21-22/09/2019

A little picture puzzle

Well, do you recognize it? Well, not too difficult. That’s right. Behind this highly subtle (:-)!) picture puzzle, you’ll discover the German term “Kunstpunkte” (=art points), Kunstpunkte Düsseldorf.

In fact, the more or less elaborately designed and “thought around the corner” picture puzzles do still belong to the equipment of many newspapers on weekends. Either on the crossword & puzzle section, or the children’s page.

The Rebus sequences consisting of pictures and signs were already known in the 15th century, and in the format of illustrated mocking poems they entertained nobility and educated society. Later on,  picture puzzles appeared in illustrated newspapers and magazines. Often a prize is awarded for the solution and the sender of correct solutions is mentioned by name. There’s no competition for the weekend here, but there’s definitely something highly attractive and nice for you to win: Namely a multitude of interesting, exciting, stimulating and entertaining encounters and impressions. Not only with works of art that might even give up one or two puzzles.

Open studios. A concentrated program

And that reads in numbers like this:  There are about 2,000 artists living in Düsseldorf. Painting, drawing, graphics, photography, sculpture, installation and performance. And, of course, a bunch of cross-genre design forms. Around 500 artists will be opening their studios over the next two weekends. International guest artists who have been invited via the artists’ exchange programme of the Duesseldorf Culture office will make that number even bigger.

And that’s not all. Because 23 project spaces and off-spaces will be added, spread all over the city. They already open their doors on Friday evening.

In short, the abundance is so overwhelming that one weekend is not enough for this open studio event. That’s why there are two of them. The south of Düsseldorf will make the start this coming weekend. A week later, artists in the north of the city will be inviting you.

Art goes to the city

With the “Hall Of Fame” on Vennhauser Allee below Eller S-Bahn station, urban space is also explicitly becoming a place of art for street art. The principle of the “Hall Of Fame” is based on the motto: “The best stays! And that means, the graffiti, which is shown the most respect in the scene, will not be painted over and will be preserved for a long time. Once a year the 3000 sqm area is redesigned together with more than 100 artists.

With “Metropolitan III”, art moves underground, or to be more precise, into the subway of the city. “Metropolitan III” is the last part of a music theatre trilogy about the art concepts of the Wehrhahnlinie Düsseldorf. Music, dance and spatial architecture merge in the production. At the Graf-Adolf-Platz underground station, visitors are accompanied on their way down to the platform by two flowing line streams.  This movement of forms serves as a model for the “Metropolitan III” project. The architectural concept as well as the finest ramifications of the river-like patterns are reflected in the selected cast, the musical structure and the choreography.

“The artist is present.” And you can also be driven to art.

As always, the result is impressive. The Düsseldorfer Kunstpunkte have meanwhile become an extremely traditional, very well organized event, where every year people interested in art can look over the shoulder of artists in their studios. So, there’s not only a lot to see, but you can also ask a lot of questions. And you will get first-hand information. So ask what you always wanted to know. Because, to quote a word that has meanwhile become a much coined quote: “The artist is present”. In any case.

Get on your way. The flyer with city map is part of your helpful basic equipment. Analog on paper, or digital. And for those who want to be brought from art place to art place, the Shuttle Bus Service is recommended. On each Art Point day there are two tour dates through the city. These three-hour tours cover of course only a small selection, but they are always surprising and varied. The trip in a vintage bus alone is a short journey back in time to the beginnings of the classic city tour, and the guided tours are each accompanied by two competent, entertaining and highly informative artists.

In short, more art on weekends is hardly possible! Let yourself in for it. Have fun!