From 12th August 2016 we will once again be saying “Seid umschlungen” (“Be Embraced”) – Ruhrtriennale will open its arms and its programme, stretching far beyond the Ruhr region – further than ever this year – and including the most diverse art forms which go to make up this festival. In the past year our motto has become even more resonant: think of the applauding crowds at German railway stations, of the banners saying “Refugees welcome”, of the widespread atmosphere of a welcoming culture. Or those other railway station images, not long after, of the assaults on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve. “Be embraced, you millions” originally comes from Friedrich Schiller’s poem, along with “All mankind are brothers”. How utopian! The real situation in Europe is something we discover afresh every day.
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