We are delighted to celebrate the opening of Manifesta 16 Ruhr this weekend, with works by Azade Köker and Judith Raum on view at Thomaskirche, Hava Güleç Living Room, in Gelsenkirchen, curated by Gürsoy Doğtaş.

Taking place from June 21 to October 4, 2026 across Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen and Bochum, Manifesta 16 Ruhr unfolds across the Ruhr region and reimagines former church buildings as spaces for civic life, encounter and artistic reflection.

Azade Köker presents Child Bride and Violence III, both from 2021. Through fragile yet forceful forms and materials, Köker addresses structures of violence, vulnerability and social memory. Judith Raum presents an installation that brings together paintings and a new video work. Her research examines German-Turkish economic relations prior to the First World War, focusing on the construction of the Anatolian Railway and Baghdad Railway under the direction of Deutsche Bank. Raum’s works trace the railway as an instrument of economic colonial access to Anatolian markets, raw materials and labour, while also looking at poor home weavers in the German Empire who produced waistbelt scarves for export to Anatolia. In her cotton pieces, this research is transferred onto cotton cloth itself, revealing traces of production, painted layers, creases and porous surfaces.

Image 1: Azade Köker, Child Bride, 2021.
Image 2: Judith Raum, cotton pieces, 2026.

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