Since 2010, Künstlerhaus Dortmund and Atelierhaus Salzamt in Linz (Austria) have been mediating artistic exchange between cities and regions.

In the Capital of Culture year 2010, Künstlerhaus Dortmund participated in an international city exchange program Urban Interventions funded by European money. The project was led by the Austrian city of Linz with partners in Liverpool, Istanbul and other European cities. This initial artist exchange developed into a continuously ongoing residency program on a bilateral level, juried by the respective host from a shortlist, after the funding expired.

Our guest artist 2019 in the exchange program with the Salzamt Linz is Daniel Stempfer. Born in Austria, Daniel Stempfer graduated in 2013 as a master student of Prof. Willem de Rooij at the Städelschule Frankfurt. Complemented by a residency in 2011 at the Glasgow School of Art. Several artist in residence residencies took him to Korea (2016), Japan (2017) and China (2016). In 2018 Daniel Stempfer was nominated for the German ars viva prize.
His guest residency at the Künstlerhaus is not his first in the Ruhr region. In the summer of 2017, he was involved in the group exhibition "Normal" at the off-space "Trust Camp" in Essen. For his residency in Dortmund, Daniel Stempfer wants to build on his experiences and contacts in Essen and the Ruhr region and develop new works.

Guest from Linz in 2018 was Sarah Stachl. She photographs found things or situations as documents for her further work, which subsequently serve her as inspiration for a photo series a video, an object or a sculpture. The found object can be strengthened and weakened by adding and subtracting different things. These are things that we all see, but not everyone perceives. She used her time in Dortmund to prepare a larger work in the outdoor space. The work, executed in metal, was finally presented in Linz.

During his stay in Linz, Robert Matthes recorded views and excerpts at various locations and combined them in his processual painting. The result is a pictorial world in which man, manipulated by the world of communication, is the focus. Every day he is confronted with the constant sound and image flood of our information society with all conceivable excesses of a degenerated society. Intoxicated, blind and lethargic, he "moves" through his modern land of milk and honey. Can he resist all these temptations and his urges? Are there ways out or is he simply "not strong enough to turn"?

After the joint exhibition of the previous Linz /Dortmund fellows in January in Linz, the Austrian artist Katharina Loidl visited us in May. In installations and etchings as well as video projections, her work revolves around the alienation of media realities as well as the confrontation of private and public spaces and the gazes and experiences exchanged therein.

The Linz residency in 2017 was accompanied by an innovation on the Dortmund side - Steffi Lindner was selected from the previous year's exhibiting Künstler:innen after a limited call for entries. Lindner had participated in the exhibition "Keine Zeit" at the Künstlerhaus with the work "happy in bits". She used her time in Linz, among other things, to prepare an experimental video work that dealt with the nature of atmospheric substances such as clouds and fog.

Hubert Ebenberger, born in Lilienfeld in 1979, studied painting at the Linz University of Art from 2005 to 2012. His collages, objects and installations arise from a processual way of working, but also spontaneously from a feeling. Alongside colorful sprawling works, contrast his meditative clear dot works that tell of duration of time. "Even as a child I was playing in the forest with my siblings or we helped our parents with the woodwork. The connection to nature, to trees has remained. I feel that trees do me good, they give me strength and calm me down. Just the other day I found a leaf with black dots."

The sound artist Denise Ritter realizes sound installations with electroacoustic compositions made of audio recordings of real sound situations (e.g. field recordings and soundscapes), in which the geographical and topographical location and spatial reference of what can be heard often plays a prominent role. During her month-long stay in Linz, she recorded characteristic sound atmospheres of the city at various locations, such as directly under the VÖEST bridge on the Danube, where the sounds of the river landscape meet the metallic noises of the bridge's construction.

In 2015 we were able to welcome Thomas Kluckner as a guest on the occasion of the exchange program. In his works he recreates everyday situations as objects or spatial installations. During his stay he developed a work for a room in the Künstlerhaus in the exhibition ECHOES.

In 2014 we were able to welcome Elisa Andessner as a guest. Her works combine performance, staged photography and video. She had the opportunity to participate in the Open Studios, and was thus able to present the photographs developed on site to an interested audience.