Temporary location, experimental action, participatory program
Date: June – July 2026
Location: Ulm, Neue 8 (Neue Straße 8)
Role: Principal curator, concept, coordination, space design, construction
Project team: Paula McFetridge (artistic director), Adela Knajzl (organization), Giuliana (education and mediation), Ronan McManus (production)
Artists: Marty Coyle (Derry), Fergus Wachalla-Kelly (Belfast), Clodagh Lavelle (Belfast), Janina Schmid (Ulm), Widerstand und Söhne – Alpay Artun (Ulm), Johanna Mangold (Ulm); Maximilian Steck (Ulm), Nadja Wollinski (Ulm)
Graphic design: Gabriela Parra Sánchez
Organizations: Griesbadgalerie (Ulm), WALTS (Ulm / Weimar), Kabosh (Belfast)
Collaborators: City of Ulm, department of culture
Partners: AG West
Funding: Cultural Bridge – program for collaboration between Germany and the United Kingdom (Fonds Soziokultur, Goethe Institut)
Supporters: Zimmermann Gerüstbautechnik (Ulm), Sparkasse Ulm
Website: nicht-effiziente-entwicklung.com
The “Office for Non-Efficient Development” is a project for exchange about free spaces in the city. It is an open meeting point for fantasizing about the unknown, discovering new things, and seeing the familiar in a new light. Undefined public space is rare in Ulm. The project takes an artistic perspective on a current city development process that creates new free spaces and brings neglected places to light — like sunken islands suddenly resurfacing. The project offers time and space to think about these islands without the pressure of efficiency. What do urban free spaces mean to us personally? What wishes and ideas are evoked by the unknown? Which free spaces have we been desperately waiting for? Which niches were already in use without us noticing?
Non-efficient view on city development
More information is coming soon…
