The Raft – Embassy of Oberbarmen

Raft-building at the Rosenau, Wuppertal Oberbarmen
Sat 19.09.26, 15:00
Wed 23.09., 15:00
Thu 24.09.26, 11:00

Departure from Oberbarmen, Bank at the Rosenau, Wuppertal
Fri 25.09.26, 12:00

Landing and performance at the Schauspielhaus Pina Bausch Zentrum under construction, Bundesallee 260, Wuppertal
Fri 25.09.26, 18:00

The Raft – Embassy of Oberbarmen is an interdisciplinary, collective art and performance project by Mobile Oase that brings people from Oberbarmen together to build a real raft - as a symbol of community, departure and visibility.

The raft carries not only people, but also numerous “treasures” from Oberbarmen along the Wupper, from east to west. The journey ends at the Pina Bausch Centre under construction.

Berliner Platz and the banks of the Rosenau become an open-air workshop: a place to build, tell stories, discuss and dream. People can stay together until the next morning, bring sleeping bags and tents, and spend the night together.

On board is the Embassy of Oberbarmen by the artist group Mobile Oase, which has been active in the neighbourhood since 2013. The exhibition brings together photographs, posters, videos, objects, texts and audio recordings from more than twelve years of artistic work in public space - stories and moments in which everyday life becomes a stage and the city becomes a space of possibility.

The raft carries these stories and “treasures” from Oberbarmen along the Wupper to the Pina Bausch Zentrum. Where the river cannot be navigated, the raft is carried through the city. There, it becomes a place for exhibition, encounter and performance.

To conclude, Mobile Oase invites visitors to the Happy Hour: a collective open-air reading, where participants, visitors and passers-by read and listen together to original texts from interviews with people from Oberbarmen.

The project is a floating work of art, travelling exhibition and social sculpture. The Raft connects Oberbarmen with the Pina Bausch Zentrum via the river as the city’s lifeline, serving as an example of how a vibrant urban community can be created. It serves as a vehicle for the messages of a neighbourhood that is often overlooked, and sends a signal in favour of a connected, supportive urban community.

The Raft – Embassy of Oberbarmen is a co-production by Mobile Oase and the Pina Bausch Zentrum under construction, in collaboration with the Forum Wupperbogen initiative and as part of the Schauspielhaus’s 60th-anniversary celebrations marking the Graubner Building.

Concept and artistic direction: Roland Brus
Contributors: Anyone who fancies taking part