PRESS RELEASE, 03/10/2010

IBA finale in Europe’s biggest landscape construction site

Former lignite mining district being reinvented as Lusatian lakeland and attracting tourists / IBA ran 30 projects to accompany structural transformation +++ Extensive programme of events to launch presentation year 2010

Großräschen. One of the most exciting tourism regions in modern-day Germany is on the Brandenburg-Saxony border where the disused open-cast mines in the former energy centre of the GDR are being flooded to create the largest man-made lake district in Europe. The appearance of the region has changed greatly in the past two decades. The new water sports facilities, bizarre mining landscapes, old industrial giants and varied leisure amenities are attracting more and more tourists. Estimates suggest that 1.5 million tourists will visit the region by 2020. The Internationale Bauausstellung (IBA) Fürst-Pückler-Land has been supporting the structural change and transformation of the landscape since the year 2000 in its capacity as a „Workshop for New Landscapes“. IBA is not an exhibition in the conventional sense but more of an agenda for the future of the state of Brandenburg and the region, and will come to an end this year. It is well worth visiting the IBA projects in this final presentation year.

IBA’s brief was to accompany the vast renewal process taking place within the context of the redevelopment of the mining landscape and to explore and realise new design ideas for a landscape wounded by its industrial past. It identified areas of potential for the post-mining landscape, capitalised on the spirit of engineering and innovation of the past and carried it forward into the future in its projects, strengthened the identity of the area, and presented a new image of the region to the outside world. The work of IBA ranges from transitional and new uses for mining landscapes, waterscapes and energy landscapes, and progresses to themes of industrial heritage right through to urban and border landscapes. The course for the future has been set by 30 projects, some of them still at the planning stage and due to extend beyond the incumbency of IBA. Visions have been turned into reality. These projects shine out like beacons in the region, some more so than others. They are forming sustainable structures for the development of the region. Some 30 million euros have been invested in the projects by IBA, having been raised from funds set aside by the state of Brandenburg under the administrative agreement for the lignite district redevelopment and from EU funds.

IBA has succeeded in preserving witnesses of the industrial past, putting them to new uses and bringing them to life as symbols and places of social transformation. Milestones like the F60 visitor mine in Lichterfeld, the IBA Terraces visitor centre in Großräschen, the Lauchhammer bio-towers, Raddusch Slavic Fort, floating homes and the landmark viewing tower in the Lusatian lakeland are attracting attention in the media and drawing visitors from near and far. Projects which have already been started, like the floating architecture and mine tours, have become key unique selling points and have long been integrated in the tourism development strategy. "The level of demand for aesthetics in the design of post-mining landscapes became clear in model projects. „Whether it will survive beyond the time of IBA is a matter for the partners“", says IBA Director Rolf Kuhn. „"In any case we shall be adopting a Lusatian Charter with them which gives recommendations for managing post-mining landscapes. IBA has set the wheels of change in motion. The creative process will not come to a dead stop, because there is a widespread awakening of pride in the region, a new sense of home, and the courage to dream and to imagine the extraordinary."

The transformation of the region and the unique features of the new landscape will be brought to life in a special way in 2010 as the work of IBA is presented in 20 artistic productions as part of the „Paradise 2“ art-project, numerous events run by partners, and in IBA tours on 12 different themes. The breadth of the projects will be reflected in a central exhibition on the IBA Terraces, right on the pit edge, where the IBA final countdown will start on 24 April 2010 in a spectacular arena on the bed of Lake Ilse. There are yet more exciting developments in the Lusatian lakeland. Work is due to start on the construction of Senftenberg town harbour and the canal on Lake Ilse, and a 160-metre-long floating pontoon is due to be installed on Lake Sedlitz. Two more floating homes will be launched on Lake Geierswald by the firm steeltec 37.