The city spraying as part of the Stadtglühen festival will take place over three days in Frankenberger Park in 2025. The organizers have come up with a very special event this year.

Detective Show X is an open-air exhibition in which visitors use clues to find works of art in Frankenberger Park and Moltkepark. By combining location details, numbers and artists' names on a digital or printed map, the locations of the artworks can be deciphered. The route takes around 60 minutes on foot, depending on your nose.

The idea was inspired by the work of American artist John Fekner, who organized a legendary art event in Gorman Park, New York, with his original Detective Show in 1978. From May 7 to June 30, 1978, visitors were invited to discover the locations of the artworks for themselves using a list of names and a map. In the preceding months, around 30 artists such as Gordon Matta-Clark, Richard Artschwager, Karen Shaw and John Fekner had realized works on site themselves.

Aachen also held its first open-air exhibition in the city center back in 1973. This year, Stadtsprühen wants to build on both events - some things just don't get boring. Moltkepark is also located on the site of a former goods station. You can still find old tracks and a lot of spontaneous graffiti here. The location thus ties in directly with the artistic practice of graffiti and interventions in public space.

The selection of artists is based on the original Detective Show in New York, i.e. positions in the field of graffiti, street art and unauthorized art in public spaces. But the Detective Show was also an artistic playground in which sculpture, painting and photography were also shown in the park. This joy of experimentation and range will be taken up again in Aachen.

The curators will be out and about on Saturday and Sunday (August 16/17) between 12:00 and 20:00 with their mobile bike office and can provide information about the works and concept at any time.

Anyone can take part
The artist duo Krista Burger and Kenneth Letsoin are organizing an open workshop for children and young people on Saturday and Sunday at 3 pm. Together, the participants make flags, partly from old plastic bags that are collected in the park beforehand. The meeting point is the former creative house in Moltkepark.

The workshop is free of charge.

Registration is not required.

Time and place: August 16-17, 2025; curators on site: 12-8 p.m.

Frankenberger Park & Moltkepark in Aachen

Opening: Friday, 15.08.2025, 19:00 h

Open workshop for children & young people: Saturday & Sunday, 3 pm, meeting point: former creative house in Moltkepark

Participating artists:
Krista Burger (Arnhem, Netherlands), Klaus Dauven (Eifel), Patricia Yasmine Graf (Aachen), Dave de Leeuw (Maastricht, Netherlands), Kenneth Letsoin (Rotterdam, Netherlands), MC Rosey (Aachen), Ann Messner (New York, USA), Ursula Meyer (Essen), Moses & Taps TM (Germany), Mathieu Tremblin (Strasbourg, France), Benjamin Pablo (Aachen), Nils Vossen (Aachen), Whoups / Océane Cornille (Liège, Belgium)

Curators:
Robert Kaltenhäuser
Lene ter Haar

Website:
Instagram: @detectiveshow.x; @stadtgluehen.aachen

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