What has happened to the River?

Walking through your own city with a map of a foreign city to rediscover urban space: the Mülheim-Yaoundé Walk connects Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, and Mülheim an der Ruhr. Connected via video telephony, we move simultaneously in two groups on two continents through the two cities.

The stories and images of places, streets and situations are both similar and different. The distinction between foreign and familiar begins to blur when the Ruhr overlaps with the Mfoundi River, and the railway tracks of the Ruhr region and their history in the context of Ruhr industry connect with the problematic trade in goods at the railway stations and other commercial hubs in Yaoundé. Yet the colonial history, largely forgotten in Germany, is only one aspect. The continued exploitation of resources, the climate crisis and the prevention of immigration come into focus as urban policies.

During the walk, a shared experience emerges: about global interconnections, about power and memory – and about how the city can be read as an expression of social conditions.

LIGNA consists of media and performance artists Ole Frahm, Michael Hueners and Torsten Michaelsen. Since 2002, they have been exploring the possibilities for collective action in shows, urban interventions and performative installations.

Avant Scène sees itself as a pluralistic laboratory committed to the democratisation of culture and the creation of new forms of coexistence in Yaoundé. ‘What has happened to the river?’ is the third joint collaboration between the two groups.

A production by LIGNA and Avant Scène