March 2022
Red Luxembourg. Exhibition and publication

Red Luxembourg is a hint. A hint to look at what is there under our noses. The red colour of the soil in the south of Luxembourg. The red colour of the labour history in this industrial region. The red colour that is part of the cultural narrative of Terres Rouges. Last but not least, the red colour in the ‘Plan d’Aménagement Général’ or PAG, a planning instrument to guide urban development in Luxembourg. In these plans, red is used to indicate so-called mixed urban zones (‘Zone Mixte Urbaine’). In an era when ‘the urban’ has been turned into a (nearly) global condition and ‘mixture’ in the city is synonymous with having a coffee bar, a supermarket and a car-sharing system at the centre of dense real-estate development, we believe it is time to grow wary and to strengthen suspicion. It is time to question the meaning of this red colour in planning schemes. Now is the time to find out whether other approaches to urban mixture can be projected on the territory, starting from the ground up and taking into account the versatility of a future Red Luxembourg.

Curatorial and editorial team: Arch. Peter Swinnen (CRIT. architects, Uni.Lu), Dr. ir.-arch. David Peleman (Uni.Lu), Arch. Nathan Heindrichs (CRIT. architects), Ir.-arch. Beatriz Van Houtte Alonso (CRIT. architects)

The publication and exhibition were made possible thanks to the kind support of ESCH22, UNILU Department of Geography and Spatial Planning, the Ministère du Logement du Luxembourg and the city of Esch-sur-Alzette.

The exhibition runs until May 20th 2022, from Wednesday to Saturday: 3pm to 8pm at Kulturfabrik / Galerie Terres Rouges.