The two part exhibition titled Shrinking Cities is a four year project curated by Philipp Oswalt investigating the worldwide phenomenon of urban `shrinkage’.

Van Alen Institute will host part one of the exhibition, Shrinking Cities: International Research, which examines the phenomenon of urban decline in four focus cities: Detroit (USA), Halle/Leipzig (Germany), Manchester/Liverpool (U.K.), and Ivanovo (Russia). These cities are explored and represented in diverse forms of documentation by artists, architects, filmmakers, journalists, and researchers. Themes include a worldwide study of shrinking cities, the change of urban landscapes, everyday practices, and political conflicts under the conditions of urban decline.

Pratt Manhattan Gallery will host part two of the exhibition, Shrinking Cities: Interventions, which presents strategies for action. It is divided into five areas: Negotiating Inequality, Self-Governance, Creating Images, Organizing Retreat, and Occupying Space. Commissioned projects range from artistic interventions and self-empowerment strategies through architectural, landscape, media and performance interventions, to new legal regulations and utopian visions.

CONTRIBUTORS to the exhibition include Nikolaus Brade, Sergei Bratkov, Mitch Cope, John Davies, interboro/CUP, Cedric Price, Bas Princen, Isa Rosenberger, Christoph Schäfer, O.M. Ungers, and Ingo Vetter.

Pratt Manhattan listing