German photographer Manfred Vollmer’s exhibit ‘Essen for the Ruhr - European Capital of Culture 2010’ has found a new home for the next few months and warm welcome at the Goethe Institute Boston, Massachusetts, where 85 friends of the Ruhr Area gathered to celebrate the opening exhibit, April 12^th 2010. The exhibit is shown in cooperation with RUHR.2010 GmbH, the ConRuhr Consortium of the Ruhr Area universities and Alumniportal Deutschland.

The opening included a screening of the award-winning image film RUHR.2010, while guests were treated to a true German-American buffet, sampling Ruhr Area delicacies like Currywurst, beer and potato salad, alongside of American mini cupcakes for dessert.

Detlef Gericke-Schönhagen (Left), Director of the Goethe Institute Boston, opened the reception, followed by Prof. Rolf Kinne (Right), Director of the ConRuhr Academic Liaison office, who talked about the extraordinary changes taking place in the Ruhr Area, developing itself from a steel & coal giant to a fresh, creative center of culture.

The German city of Essen was chosen to become the European Capital of Culture 2010 as a representative for the Ruhr Area. The former “Rust Belt of Europe”, the Ruhr Metropolis, is by now a place of hip cultural life mixed with scientific excellence. This unique transformation and charm is captured in Manfred Vollmer's more than 20 photographs, on view until May 14th, 2010 at the Goethe Institute Boston. To learn more about RUHR.2010 and the upcoming events for 2010 and beyond, visit www.ruhr2010.de /en . To see more of Manfred Vollmer’s work, go to www.manfred-vollmer.de .

Photos courtesy of the German Consulate Boston.

Press Contact: Kirsten Masanneck, Masanneck@conruhr.org

Press Contact RUHR.2010: katharina.jarzombek@ruhr2010.de

Opening Event | © Photo: Manfred Vollmer

Have you ever been to a 30 mile long Autobahn picnic table, seen an opera in a steel mill or gone swimming in an old coking plant?

In 2010 all this is possible, as the Ruhr area is the center of European Culture! The city of Essen bears the title of European Capital of Culture as the representative of the 53 cities of the Ruhr with around 5.3 million residents. That makes the region the European Union’s third largest urban agglomeration behind Paris and London. The grand opening event brought RUHR.2010’s motto to the point: an impressive industrial setting for an artistic and musical tale of change through culture and culture through change. The Ruhr area, once the heart of Germany's mining and steel industries, is now a vibrant cultural centre. In 2010 there will be 300 projects with more than 2,500 events in the area.

This year's "Meetings of the Mind's" event took place at the Zeche Zollverein, followed by a concert at the Jahrhunderthalle, Bochum. To see photos, click here.

May 2009: Thirty-Three RISE students in the Ruhr area this summer

This summer the Ruhr area will host 33 of DAAD's RISE scholars (Research Internships in Science and Engineering), coming from across the USA, Canadan and UK. RISE students complete a hands-on research internship with Ruhr Area PhD students. For more information: www.daad.org