INDUSTRIAL: Silk Roads 3000

Image: Umida Akhmedova, Xonjiza (Uzbekistan), 2025

The exhibition INDUSTRIAL: Silk Roads 3000 explores the global production and transportation of goods from Asia to Europe. It foregrounds the human labor behind every industry—heavy, cultural, or creative—reminding us that along today’s new Silk Roads, stretching from China to Dortmund, workers remain the unseen foundation of global exchange.

On the geopolitical map, the Ruhrgebiet lies at one end of the so-called New Silk Roads. Trains, ships, and trucks carry vast quantities of manufactured goods from Asia to Europe, forming a largely invisible network of containers and cargo routes. Romantic notions of caravans crossing deserts have given way to a complex system of global trade known as the Belt and Road Initiative. Cities such as Dortmund, Duisburg, and Gelsenkirchen now serve as hubs at the terminus of these routes, linking Europe to distant production sites.

Peter Frankopan has reframed our understanding of these historic connections, arguing that global exchange has always extended far beyond silk alone. Oil, grain, furs, knowledge, and slaves have moved along these corridors, binding continents together. His work underscores how deeply interdependent our world has become, and how Europe increasingly depends on distant resources.

In the nineteenth century, the Ruhrgebiet was a powerhouse of coal and steel that fueled the Industrial Revolution. Immense fortunes were made, while countless workers endured poverty and hardship. The region inspired the radical thought of Marx and Engels and generated inventions that still shape modern life. Yet from the 1970s onward, the Ruhr fell into steep decline. Mines closed, factories shut down, and an economic depression reshaped the landscape. Only in recent decades has a fragile recovery emerged. Today, logistics defines the region’s new identity, and INDUSTRIAL: Silk Roads 3000 will take its visitors on an exciting and informative trip.

Further reading:

Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, London: Bloomsbury, 2015

Peter Frankopan, The New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the World, London: Bloomsbury, 2018