a painful farewell

hier geht es zur deutschen version.

fear, terror and panic

abandoned places are increasingly becoming the focus of young people. urban exploration, or urbex for short, is the name of the movement. this interest in abandoned places correlates with an enormous upheaval we are currently experiencing. people everywhere are being made afraid by the media. after all, bad news always sells better than good news. the headline: "we will all die painfully" sounds much more exciting than "we will all live freely". since the latter is apparently also not wanted by the elite circles, the personnel in the central propaganda publications and propaganda shows like to put people permanently in fear, fright and panic. always new topics can be found: forest dieback, destruction of the ozone layer, different diseases, bird flu, worst dictators of all times, who have permanently plunged the whole world into wars, like kim jong un, trump, gaddafi, assad, erdogan or putin (whereby by the prince of peace obama probably more bombs rained down than all these unscrupulous dictators fired bombs all together so far), global warming, corona α to Ω, . .. . again and again comes a new even worse case and new scenarios and stories are searched, invented and written to put the humanity in panic. many things then look a little different in reality and are far less dramatic as it first appears through pictures and texts in the media.
in connection with the end of the world, people like to refer to various scriptures or seers. one example is the revelation of john, but also alois irlmayer is quoted again and again. however, it is often overlooked that at the end of the catastrophes described by them, there is talk of a new age and a better world. the focus is rather put on the catastrophe and the edifying is deleted.
the powerful of this world seem to be losing control more and more, whether intentionally or not, they have pushed the people through their political actions into an increasing chaos. the masses like going into it - by following the most absurd rules of the game imposed on them all. which now seems to be unstoppable even more and more awaken. perhaps these reports of impending catastrophes and visions, together with the increasingly chaotic political situation, are the reason why decaying and disintegrating architecture/civilization is attracting a lot of interest these days. in the meantime, a whole movement has emerged from this. whether the fascination with ruins is related to the known world that is currently in decay?
it would be at least possible that the exploration as well as research of remains of the civilization, correlates with the interest, which remains could remain one day from the own surrounding field. our known world is doomed. no matter, what is coming next, it will not become again like before that is definitely certain. whether this is perceived now consciously or unconsciously in this scene is without relevance. it will be clarified probably if at all only retrospectively, in how far parallels are present here.

the beginning of the end

in the meantime, the excavators have rolled in. demolition has been underway for some time. the building fabric, some of which has already been badly damaged, is now finally being removed and the site is being cleared. nature has to make way for it, as do the old buildings. the latter were evidence of better times in the past. in the remaining debris, one could only guess what was built there by workers. apart from the cards on which the workers documented their names, dates and working hours, there was hardly anything left on the site that had not been left behind by the blind fury of destruction, vandalism or nature. without the letters at the top of the office building, it would have been hard to guess what purpose these remnants of our civilization had once served. the shipyard, founded in 1927, survived stormy times before finally going under and having to cease operations altogether in 2002, following insolvency in 1988. but this was not the only tragic event connected with the shipyard in that fateful year.
numerous ships saw the light of day at this location, including not only inland ships, but also ferries that still have their home at sea until today. one of these ferries came to an even more tragic end in the same year than the 140 employees who suddenly lost their jobs.

two tragedies

on september 26, 2002, a ferry under the senegalese flag is on the atlantic. numerous students are on board the LE JOOLA to get to dakar. there is no place on board where the vibrations of the two diesel engines cannot be felt. more than 3,000 hp move the ship slowly through the water. at this time, none of the passengers on board has any idea of the catastrophe that would befall them. pleasantly, the sea air moves over deck and provides a little cooling. the ship is just twelve years old and should not getting a day older with this day. in the morning, around 11 o'clock, the ship is caught in a storm. the increasingly violent waves have devastating effects. fear and dread fill the passengers, even the crew, who have already experienced a lot, realize that this storm could be their last. suddenly, everything happens very quickly. the forces of nature needed less than five minutes to capsize the ship. the numerous people on board had to face death powerlessly. on the ship, which was certified for 500 passengers, far more than twice as many passengers died that day. at the end of the day, not even 70 people on board were said to have survived the disaster. the LE JOOLA drifted keel-up on the atlantic for twenty hours before it was swallowed up by the sea forever. this disaster at sea is one of the largest since the end of the second world war. even though the shipping company was not to blame for this incident and the responsibility for the tragedy is said to have lain with the shipowners, it is a strange tragedy how the fate of this ship is intertwined with that of the shipyard. thus the shipyard also comes to an end with the year 2002 and stops building ships.

since 2002, no ship has seen the light of day here. since then, only built things have been demolished, devastated, dismantled or left to decay. the only thing that was produced after the closure of the shipyard was a crime scene in 2009 with the title: "tod am rhein" (death on the rhine). once again, there was no chance of escaping the theme of death and decay on this area. besides, a frightening destructive vein of some people was revealed. the question also arose: who does the work to prepare a paved hall floor like this. did someone want to steal cables? was someone on a trip and had too much energy? in any case, the destructive behavior had raised questions for the photographer. what do you think?

farewell and a new chapter

besides the many destructive traces of humans and the decay, there was also hope. with its beautiful green, nature conquered back numerous areas that had been designed by humans. just such places show, besides the transience of humans, also the greatness and genius of creation, in which we are allowed to live and which we unfortunately appreciate far too seldom and with which we deal too carelessly and contemptuously, as the excavators are proving once again right now.

where workers once diligently earned their money, homeless people slept until recently. in the near future, tenants and overnight guests are to find accommodation here on the site. namely, new buildings are to be erected on the old shipyard site after the old architecture has been demolished. this decision was made at the end of 2018.

the joy of very different people. explorers, skateboarders, photographers, sprayers and anglers has now come to an end. also students will no longer come to spend time here.

over the years, numerous interesting pictures were created on the walls, which showed that the artists could take their time for their works. but also first works and spray attempts could be found here. but every great graffiti artist had to start somewhere. even if many people lack the understanding and sense for such a form of artistic expression, a walk across the grounds was like a visit to a gallery. numerous colorful works of art by a wide variety of artists could be viewed here without being censored. the immediate communication is the wonderful and at the same time the dangerous (especially in the eyes of the powerful) thing about this art.

KÄPT'N KALLE did not miss the opportunity to leave a sign of life on the wall of one of the many colorful walls on the old shipyard site.

now the artworks are about to be demolished and, like the entire shipyard, belong to a bygone era. are we currently also at such a turning point?
in any case, the site once again shows that the only thing that remains is impermanence.
it's just that it's finally time for people to take active action and assume responsibility. we're currently seeing very clearly where relying blind on politicians will lead us. whether it's housing policy in big cities or dealing with a disease, the list is long. everywhere, decisions are being made over people's heads and wills, and politics, the press and business go hand in hand. minorities become majorities in the media and masses remain silent and bow to the dictates. we should no longer cast our votes in elections and then remain silent for the next few years, but raise them for something new, something better. it is time to confront the repressive forces and say "NO!" for sure, and please do not accept this time again (as unfortunately has happened far too often) the solution offered by old cadres for the problems they have created.

the text falls under the freedom to express opinion freely in word, writing and image and the freedom of art.