Lange Weile

Boredom – or in search of empty time.

With this exhibition project, the LWL Industrial Museum dares to conduct an interdisciplinary experiment. Students of the Master’s program have dealt with the theme of “boredom” and implemented their ideas in a wide variety of media.

With the “Labyrinth” installation on the museum’s outdoor grounds, visitors can decide whether to choose the deceleration of a diversion or to take the direct route to their destination…. The performance “Neuland” in the cellar of the Gebläsehaus deals with time, space, and the body – live and virtual. In the adjoining room, the light/sound composition “Muße in Arbeit” (idleness in work) makes the pace of passing time tangible and sensitises people to dealing with space and time.

At “Müßiggang” (idleness), visitors can listen on an audio path to Blast Furnace 3, which – in “retirement” after the factory closed in 1987 – has its very own thoughts about boredom.
Behind the initially rather negative concept of boredom, the exhibition opens a deeper level. The ’empty time’ can serve as a starting point for creative processes, the ’empty space’ can be inspiration and filled with ideas and projects. In times of endless employment opportunities, constraints, and heavy workloads, it has almost become a luxury.”