Exploring a Changing Landscape

The IBA Tours

A changing landscape is exciting, mysterious, and arouses one’s curiosity. Until 2010 the IBA Tours explored the process of change between old and new: on foot, with jeeps, buses, bicycles or rafts; individually or as group tours.... read more

The Concept of “Opencast Mine Explorations for the Senses”

From the beginning of the IBA, the transitional landscapes played a special role within the framework of the IBA process. One, the pits with their desert-like appeal resulting from mining, can be explored for only a limited period, that is, until flooding begins to eventually transform them into lakes... read more

“Canyons, Steppes and Steel Giants”

Through the institute’s method of “Wahrnehmungswerkstatt” or workshop for perception, the first extensive IBA tour “Canyons, Steppes and Steel Giants” was conceived in 2002. A hike lasting nearly four hours took visitors into the pit of the former Meuro opencast mine where until the late 1990s 350 million tons of coal had been mined.... read more

Guiding Perception

Information and installations provided the dramaturgical framework for the tour, for example, a light meal at a table with white tablecloth adjacent to the black coal seam or a helium-filled balloon that functioned as an imaginary “buoy” to indicate the future water level at a height of 38 metres above ground level.... read more

Uncovering Different Levels of Reality

Every visitor experienced the pit in a very individual way depending on their background (e.g. former miners, former inhabitants of excavated villages, and people without any reference to the region). Through their remarks, different levels of the reality of the site began to surface... read more

Formulating an Idea

The decisive moment for the explorers was communicating what they explored, grasping what one saw, felt and experienced. Only in the telling is an idea formulated... read more

The Opencast Mine as Stage

The emotional potential that lies in the complex context of coal mining, the destruction of villages, and the new vision of a landscape of lakes became apparent in stories told by the participants in the tour... read more

Tours into the Landscape of Opencast Mines

The Opencast Mine Explorations for the Senses were regularly conducted for five years and the public was very responsive. Often more than 100 visitors participated in a single hike, and this, in turn, had many effects on the IBA process. read more

Tours into the Lake Land

Under the slogan “From desert to water,” the emerging Lusatian Lake Land can be best explored by bicycle, raft or mini van. read more

Tours to Industrial Sites

“Touring the ENERGY Route” – production sites that once were off-limits for visitors are today regarded as tourist attractions. read more

Tours to the Border Landscapes

Bus tours to the German-Polish border landscapes took visitors “From Pückler’s Park to the Geo Park.” read more

Tours of Cultural Landscapes

“About old and new cultural sites” – a bus tour through cultural landscapes affected by mining. read more