A department store is a department store - is a space for ideas

25.03.2026

With the "_ _ _STADT" exhibition, the Kunstverein Siegen is opening up the Karstadt building, which has been vacant for years, as a temporary venue for art, architecture and urban research. International artists and students from the University of Siegen are transforming the concrete dreariness of the former retail space into a modern gallery setting.

Installations in the former Karstadt building in Siegen.

The old department store still shows the faded traces of consumerism. The checkout area, the escalators, the old signs. In the past, you couldn't get past Karstadt, partly because the store brought you so conveniently to Siegen's upper town. Almost three years after its closure, the long building is being revitalized with the "_ _ _STADT" exhibition. Not as a place to shop, but as a space for art, architecture and new ideas for a city of tomorrow. The Kunstverein Siegen and the New School of Architecture at the University of Siegen have developed new perspectives for dealing with inner-city vacancies. It has become clear that retail is no longer the sole driver of urban development. New, creative utilization concepts for inner-city spaces are in demand.

And so the lower floor of the old department store is currently becoming a kind of experimental field. Not only are artists such as Ada Van Hoorebeke, Alwin Lay, Amedeo Polazzo, Ana Navas, Erika Hock, Ida Kammerloch, Karla Zipfel, Louise Nguyen and Olof Duus, Paula Erstmann, Sarah & Charles, Samuel Treindl, SpätiSpäti and Yoel Pytowski showing their works here, but they are also taking up the specific history of the location. Alienated consumer objects, fragmented or oversized everyday products, textile installations, video works and projections play with the exhibition space, which always remains present as a department store of yesteryear. This creates an atmosphere in which past, present and possible future scenarios overlap.

The University of Siegen plays a key role in shaping the project. A central element of the exhibition is an architectural model of the Karstadt building, which was created as part of the real-world laboratory under the direction of Prof. Dr. Thorsten Erl. The model shows that open spaces for work, encounters and culture can be created in the old Karstadt instead of closed-off sales areas.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a public discussion. Interested citizens met with Jennifer Cierlitza from Kunstverein Siegen, Prof. Erl and city planning officer Henrik Schumann for a discussion evening to outline the possibilities of urban development in the existing building. The architecture professor and urban planner explained that this exhibition is an invitation to rethink the city: open, collaborative and experimental. Vacancies should not be permanently lamented, but actively used, perhaps as a "space of opportunity", as is currently the case with the Kunstverein. "We need places where urban society can come together," says Prof. Erl.

Opening hours of the exhibition until May 9 in the former Karstadt building:
Friday and Saturday, 2 to 6 p.m., closed on Good Friday and Easter Saturday. Another part of the exhibition can be seen in Haus Seel during the usual opening hours.