SAVE THE | SCULPTURE MUSEUM MARL

SAVE THE | SCULPTURE MUSEUM MARL

The SKULPTURENMUSEUM MARL is of utmost importance for the history of sound art in Europe. The first exhibition on sound art in Germany was held here in 1980, from 2002-2013 the German Sound Art Award was presented here, and since 2014 the Marl Media Award 2014 - European Soundart Award 2014. In cooperation with the WDR, sound art projects were awarded and competitions, exhibitions and radio art events were held at the SKULPTURENMUSEUM MARL.

The SKULPTURENMUSEUM MARL was located in the Glaskasten on the ground floor in the town hall of Marl from 1982 to 2022. In the context of the mayor renovation of the city hall the museum was going to permanently move to a new site. Currently the museum has temporary quarters in a school in Marl-Hüls. The museum's famous collection is temporarily housed in depots of the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe in Münster.

As construction costs have risen enormously in recent years, the expected costs for the new site have also risen, and thus also for the museum's relocation; however, these additional costs were not approved by the Marl City Council in December 2022 by an extremely narrow majority of 1 vote. As a result, the existence of the SKULPTURENMUSEUM MARL is suddenly endangered.

Dr. Uwe Rüth, the former director of the SKULPTURENMUSEUM MARL, writes: "The museum is in great danger and – after two council votes before Christmas 2022 – the museum suddenly has no exhibition spaces anymore, except for the small emergency pavilions in Hüls, but these are also only temporary. Additionally to moving out of the old site, the Glaskasten in the town hall, and abandoning the original museum concept, now the replacement concept for the conversion of a school from the 1960s (Marschall 66) has been abandoned by the council resolutions in December 2022. The internal struggle for a solution is going on, but..."

In the feature article of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of 18.1.2023 Jens Dirksen writes: "One wonders about the motives of the city council. It cannot have anything to do with the facts. Because the decision will cost the city dearly in the future: The renovation of the city library is due anyway. And because of the preservation order, the school building on Kampstraße will inevitably have to be renovated, as well. The problem is that the federal and state subsidies are tied to the original plans (which were now abandoned).

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SAVE THE | SCULPTURE MUSEUM MARL

WE URGE THE COUNCIL MEMBERS OF THE CITY OF MARL TO APPROVE THE ADDITIONAL COSTS FOR MARSCHALL 66 AND THUS SECURE THE EXISTENCE OF THE SCULPTURE MUSEUM IN MARL IN THE LONG TERM.

Letters to the council members of the city of Marl, emphasizing the great importance of the SCULPTURE MUSEUM MARL for sound and media art, can be sent to the mayor of the city of Marl :

ADDRESS : Werner.Arndt@Marl.de

- With the request to forward it to the council members of the city of Marl -

To the mayor of the city of Marl

Werner Arndt

City of Marl

Creiler place 1

45768 Marl

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[ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MARL SCULPTURE MUSEUM FOR SOUND ART].

The SKULPTURENMUSEUM MARL is the museum, which

– organized the 1st sound art exhibition in the glass box in Marl in 1980. On display were Peter Vogel's 'Cybernetic Sound Objects'.

– 2002 for the first time announced the German Sound Art Award and awarded until 2013

– in 2014 the 'Marl Media Award 2014 - European Soundart Award 2014' in further development of the Sound Art Award.

Here, essential new positions of sound art were honored as well as the life's work of outstanding individual artists was highlighted with an honorary award. The production prize for new sound concepts has always been equally important. The Sculpture Museum, in cooperation with WDR COLOGNE and the INITIATIVE HEARING, established sound art and presented to broad public. Until 2020, sound art concepts by individual sound artists were implemented in the competition and the museum, which included radiophonic as well as spatial and site-specific sound art as the starting point for new works.