Welcome to HMKV's blog.

This blog currently documents a research trip to twelve former Soviet Republics for a new regional project of the Goethe-Institut (2015-17). Earlier entries document the "Afro-Tech and the Future of (Re-)Invention" research trip to Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria (10-25 April 2014, Anne Bergner and Inke Arns), and the INDUSTRIAL on Tour trip to five industrial cities in Poland (27 Sep - 9 Oct 2011, Thibaut de Ruyter, Inke Arns et al.)



Bytom mit Radek - "Now let me show you some destruction!" (5.10.2011)










Radek shows us around downtown Bytom - a once wealthy Silesian town (before WWII). Today there is something "Detroitian" in the air ... The coal mines are still working, but they are the reason for the city slowly being destroyed ... the coal mines cannot be closed, as some 4-5000 people would lose their jobs, and as it cannot be closed, it eats away the city's foundations ... and the houses start cracking and crumbling ...