Artists Pascal Ansell, Coco Bergholm, Epos 257, Antonio Gallego, Léa Hussenot, Deana Kolenčíková, Corentin Seyfried, Mathieu Tremblin and the Wanderlust Social Club, consisting of Mary Limonade and Jiem L’Hostis, joined forces to form an international collective, the Gesellschaft der Stadtwanderer (Company of Urban Wanderers), for the Urban Art Biennale 2024. This group engaged intensively with the city of Völklingen and its history. To enable local participation, posters with contact details went up around town so that people could get in touch with the collective, some members of which were in Völklingen for a number of weeks. The people of Völklingen were happy to share their memories and feelings. This dialogue resulted in a wide range of works that take the form of temporary, unauthorised interventions in urban space. “We are taking the liberty of intervening in the city, but we are not in the business of perpetrating vandalism – our interventions can be reversed at any time,” says Mathieu Tremblin, who was impressed by the readiness of the people of Völklingen to get involved. The works of the Gesellschaft der Stadtwanderer can be discovered in Völklingen city centre throughout the Biennale.

Daniel Bauer