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Its significance is marked by ambivalence: the river divides the city into two parts, yet also connects it with other places and countries. It is one of Europe’s most important trade and cultural axes, a lifeline and a source of identity. But its power is fragile, threatened by drought, pollution, and constructions—and it poses immediate danger to those who enter it.

Christian Schnur portrays people who “stay” in the river for work or pleasure. Based on his ambivalent experience with water, he explores their interaction and emotional connection with it. The river becomes a projection surface, both origin and end.

Serge Hasenböhler presents stuffed birds on the water’s surface, pointing to life’s precariousness.

Kostas Maros lets the Rhine appear only as an idea in portraits of people on its banks, which have become a multifunctional space for swimming, parties, concerts, or riverside cafés.