Market for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge

On the speed of flow and regulation of water, bodies and ideas

The Market for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge is a major theatre event, a place of knowledge transfer, reading room, stock exchange and advice centre all in one. It has taken place thirty-four times in thirteen countries since 2004. The last stops were Berlin, Frankfurt and Milan.

On 3 February, the Market for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge will take place for the first time in North Rhine-Westphalia and will celebrate its 20th anniversary in Mülheim an der Ruhr with the theme BANKLESS RIVER.

Rivers are mythical places of transition and change. People have always been attracted to them, settlements have been founded on their banks and trade routes have been determined by them. The Mülheim Market for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge brings together 90 experts who will share their knowledge on various topics relating to the Ruhr, Rhine and Emscher, global water cycles, climate change and ecology in 190 individual talks. With the title BANKLESS RIVER, the market also recalls stories and mythologies in which the river symbolises the moment of transition and constant change.

Each conversation can be booked on site for 1 euro.
There will be live broadcasts on the market radio on 8 channels.

The Ruhr is one of the people in Mülheim’s favourite places and an entire region is named after it. Flowing bodies of water create branched networks, shape local structures and open regions to the world.

Mülheim harbour handles over 1 million tonnes of goods per year, while the inland port in Duisburg is one of Europe’s most important logistics hubs, with containers here circulating between Germany, China and the rest of the world.

The Ruhr region is familiar with processes of constant transformation. And the next great change is already underway. In periods of extreme heat, water evaporates from the rivers, leaving living creatures and ships high and dry. During heavy rains, rising waters flatten shorelines and flood entire tracts of land – creating bankless rivers. The migration flows prompted by climate change change the lives of people arriving and those who are already here, while both established and new species have to adapt to changing ecosystems. The river is a dynamic habitat that symbolises the flow of traffic like the bloodstream of a living organism. At the same time it also reminds us of stories and mythologies in which running water symbolises moments of transition and perpetual change.

In a series of 30-minute conversations, 90 experts share a variety of perspectives and stories about flowing water, bodies and ideas. The Market for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge is a site of knowledge transfer, an archive, a reading room, an exchange and advice centre all rolled into one. The Mobile Akademie Berlin’s project has toured the globe for twenty years and can now be experienced in North Rhine-Westphalia for the first time.

Ein Projekt der Mobilen Akademie Berlin, produziert von vier.ruhr (Theaterallianz aus Theater an der Ruhr, Ringlokschuppen Ruhr und Mülheimer Theatertagen). Gefördert durch das Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes NRW, das NRW Kultursekretariat Wuppertal und die Kunststiftung NRW.

Kurators: Anna Bründl, Jonas Leifert
Kuratorial Advisory: Paulina Abufhele Meza, Hasan M Hera, Karola Szabó
Production Management: Susanne Berthold
Furnishings: Cordula Körber
Technical Director: Julius Kindermann
Production Assistance Melissa Müller
Graphics: Malte Jehmlich - sputnic visual arts
Translation: David Tushingham
Licencee : vier.ruhr - Die Mülheimer Theaterallianz
Licence Giver: Hannah Hurtzig - Mobile Akademie Berlin

The title of the Mülheim market was inspired by Hans Henny Jahnn's novel trilogy River Without Shores.