The project »Warten auf den Fluss« (waiting for the river) by the artist-group Observatorium in Rotterdam has fascinated me. »Waiting for the river« does mean the Emscher that is no river since over 100 years but an open waste water canal. The Emscher will be renaturated in several years and this art project wanted to tell us this. Warten auf den Fluss was a hostel in the Emscherlandschaftspark made of wood and had a warm and inviting atmosphere – I loved it and about 25.000 visitors had a look at it during the summer of 2010.

Warten auf den Fluss von Uglix bei Flickr

Warten auf den Fluss was part of the EMSCHERKUNST.2010 Exhibition curated by Prof. Dr. Florian Matzner.

I visited the sculpture the day after it was demolished – it was a temporary project and was over at Sept. 18th. 2010 – and I got a little bit sad.

I vainly hoped it would be saved and I could invite friends to to stay overnight together.

Here are two links for further informations (in German language) with some good pictures by the bloggers Gunwalt and Karin Reichert-Frei and Thomas Frei.