Subway Art – Experiencing the Public (Transit) Space Playfully and Creatively
Essen
Food becomes a platform for urban art, political education, and street art. Along the U11 metro line, artworks, poster campaigns, and digital interventions are created. To facilitate this, the City of Play invites participants to the “Summer School for Political and Playful Education”. During six-day workshops, invited artists teach both the theory and practice of urban intervention. The City of Play connects Essen’s main train station with the sports venues of the World University Games at Messe Essen and Grugapark through a programme and exhibition parcours in public space.
Photos: © Land NRW / Jutta Prechtel
Dates
17 – 27 July 2025
Location
U-Bahn line U11 from Essen Hauptbahnhof to Messe Essen
Playground
Exhibition parcours along Rüttenscheider Straße Opening hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 14:00 - 20:00
Opening – Public Dinner and City Talk
17 July 2025, from 18:00 to 22:00 – Essen Hauptbahnhof U-Bahn station, mezzanine level, Huyssenallee exit
To mark the opening of the Summer School, the City of Play invites you to a communal dinner and city talk. The Essen Hauptbahnhof U-Bahn station will be transformed into a public event space.
The Essen Gitter Raum will provide the accompanying music programme.
The city talk “Subway Art” will discuss the spatial and thematic framework of the Summer School. Participating artists will speak about their artistic methodology and practice. The discussion will be moderated by Lene ter Haar and Robert Kaltenhäuser.
Playful Picnic & City Talk “Playful Cities”
20 July 2025, 16:00 to 22:00 – Stadtgarten
The City of Play invites you to a playful picnic in Essen’s Stadtgarten. Everyone is encouraged to bring a small contribution, creating a diverse and convivial gathering.
The Essen Gitter Raum will provide the accompanying music programme.
From 19:30, artists will discuss the playful qualities of public space as part of the city talk “Playful Cities”. The discussion will be moderated by Prof. Susan Hansen (NuArt) and Pedro Soares Neves (Urbancreativity).
Final Presentation of the Summer School for Political & Playful Education
23 July 2025, 17:00 to 19:00, starting at Essen Hauptbahnhof
To conclude the Summer School, participants and artists will showcase their work through a joint city walk from Essen Hauptbahnhof to Grugapark.
The tour invites exploration, highlights urban interventions, and leads to hidden or undiscovered locations.
Radio Residency with dublab.de
26 July 2025, 16:00 to 22:00 – Grugahalle Essen
To conclude the City of Play, the Radio Residency will launch its third and final chapter. The Cologne-based online radio station dublab.de will invite DJs from the Rhine-Ruhr region to take to the decks.
dublab is a non-profit radio station founded in Los Angeles in 1999, which has since become one of the influential voices in online radio. dubla.de is the German branch of dublab.com and has been broadcasting from Cologne since 2015.
Film Screening – Vladimir Turner
22 July 2025, 20:00 to 22:00 - Parish Church of St. Gertrud, Rottstraße 36, 45127 Essen Czech with English subtitles
The film Urban Disobedience Toolkit explores the evolving dynamics of public spaces in major cities and demonstrates how art can inspire people to reclaim and redesign their urban environments. Through artistic interventions and performative lectures, the film illustrates ways to “reconquer the city”. These elements are seamlessly woven together under the direction of artist and filmmaker Vladimír Turner, who has dedicated nearly two decades to art in public space. The title Urban Disobedience Toolkit emphasises the avant-garde potential of art — not as mere decoration, but as a radical intervention and a driving force against technocratic worldviews. At the centre of the project is a feature film, complemented by an exhibition and a book.
Summer School for Political & Playful Education
17 to 23 July 2025
A week of workshops with international artists invites participants to engage creatively and playfully with public space. Under the guidance of international artists, a multi-stage, interdisciplinary workshop programme will be developed alongside a public programme of events.
Across five workshop modules, participants of the Summer School will explore the theory and practice of urban intervention through the lens of the right to the city.
The event takes place within Essen’s underground railway system. The U-Bahn stations and trains on line U11, from Essen Hauptbahnhof to Gruga, will be artistically hacked and transformed into public art spaces.
In conjunction with the City of Play project exhibition, a programme will be created as a parcours through the cityscape, encouraging discovery and participation.
For more information and registration, see the Call for Action.
