Spekulative Autonome Zone Lebensgroß (SAZ L)

Die Gesellschaft der Stadtwanderer is an informal group of urban explorers founded on the occasion of the 2024 Urban Art Biennale. In 2026, it brings together artist-researchers Léo Sallez, Sophie Prinssen, Mathieu Tremblin, Alice Jeannel, Jeremy Allan Hawkins, and Roland Görgen, along with visual artists Aïda Gómez and Anna Weberberger. Speculative Autonomous Zone Life-Size (SAZ L-S) is an artistic project initiated by Die Gesellschaft der Stadtwanderer. It unfolds as both a role-playing game and a series of site-specific interventions at the Völklinger Hütte. Its aim is to initiate a dialogue with the future about the livability of the city of Völklingen and the future of the UNESCO World Heritage site in 2046—considering the city’s industrial past, the current state of its heritage-listed industrial legacy, and the prospect of a future in which the city would host the production of “green steel.” Visitors are invited to explore a speculative, context-based fiction through a take-away cartography and downloadable playkit, an audio tour, a series of honey wax sculptures and a narrative written in charcoal on the walls of the Paradise.