Churches and department stores usually present themselves with striking architecture in the best places in the city. But what happens when their great promise no longer holds true? The exhibition "Broken Promise - Churches and Department Stores" at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to precisely this question from March 29 to May 12, 2026. In the former Zeeck department store at Kavalierstraße 72 in Dessau, one scholarship holder and three scholarship holders from the Department of Architecture, Facility Management and Geoinformation will be presenting artistic and creative positions that develop innovative perspectives on ecclesiastical and commercial buildings. The aim of the exhibition is to provide impetus for a new perception and use of these formative public spaces. The opening will take place on March 29, 2026 at 12 noon, preceded by a guided tour of the entire exhibition floor at 11 am.
The exhibition venue is a building in Dessau that itself stands for more than a century of urban and usage history: opened in 1908 as the Zeeck department store, expanded in the 1920s, rebuilt after the war and redesigned as a "magnet" branch in the 1970s, it still tells of changing hopes and needs today. The location itself thus becomes the central resonating space of the exhibition.
Three artistic and creative positions unite the four scholarship holders, who have already successfully completed their studies and are gaining their first professional experience. At the German Forum Church and Cultural Heritage, a research focus of Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, the scholarship gives them the opportunity to take a fresh look at existing spaces in the Anhalt region and think ahead. In her video sculpture "TikTok Aesthetics", artist Karla Zipfel transfers popular social media formats to church and department store architecture and explores new forms of communication. In "Dächer gleicher Ordnung", photographer Louis Volkmann, known for his examination of East German modernist buildings, shows two places of worship and a department store from the late GDR era that are connected by a common structural element. With their model structures "+", architects Marius Busch and Maximilian Hartinger develop future scenarios for rural areas. Their thesis: new energies are needed to turn these public places back into centers of life.
The exhibition is curated by Prof. Dr. Karin Berkemann from Anhalt University of Applied Sciences. The project is funded by the German Foundation for Monument Protection.
