dsfarcich
The Bus Shelter Project (1998) Never Forget!!!
The bus shelter project is my second intervention. The use of a common bus shelter onbus line No. 100 in front of Kurfürstenstraße 115/116 is to bring a forgotten place back to the present and maintain that memory for the future. It was clear to me from the start that my idea needed support.
First and foremost I had to win the assistance of Wall Ltd theowners of numerous public transport bus shelters in Berlin. Thecompany head, Hans Wall required just two days to give an 'okay'.A bus shelter was lacking at the bus stop on Kurfürstenstraße,so his company had to go through extensive planning and lengthyapplication procedure to finitely get building permission.
Research work on the written contents of the memorial posterswere catered for by Prof. Reinhard Rürup of Topography of Terrora public research centre and archive in Berlin dealing with aspectsof mass terror by Gestapo, SS and SA during the Third Reich.
What reasons lead me -by way of artistic means- to turn a tillthen non-existent site into a memorial?
First of all the feeling of personal commitment towards thosemembers of my family murdered by the Nazis. The fact that I livein Germany and Berlin furthers the desire to ensure that the crimesof the Third Reich be never forgotten. Finally, living as a Jewin Germany and Berlin means a permanent extra strain on day-to-daylife.
My lack of understanding why Berlin with its many Holocaust memorialhad not, up till then, pinpointed the site of Eichmann's so-calledJudenreferat.
The cultural office of the Borough of Berlin-Schöneberg informedmy that the owner of the property on which today an hotel standshad no interest what so ever, to allow a memorial plaque to beattached to wall of the existing building.
'Knowledgeable' and politically involved citizens in general visitmemorials and memorial sites. A memorial site positioned in themidst of day-to-day life could perhaps reach less interested citizens.
Bus stops are transit areas where people stand for shorter periodsof time. Bus schedules happen to interrupt the smooth flow ofdaily life. The most common thing people do in such a situationis either look at nearby shop windows or advertisements. My intentionwas to catch their attention unaware and tell them something aboutthe place where they're standing.
The bus shelter happens to be at a bus stop on the very popularBerlin bus line No. 100 that links Zoo Station in the centre offormer West Berlin with Alexander Platz Station in the centreof former East Berlin. On route the bus passes famous sites suchas the Reichstag, the Brandenburger Gate and the famous Unterden Linden Boulevard. From now on the route includes a dark aspectof Berlin and German history.
Marcel Duchamp's 'readymades' or 'objets trouvés' have alwaysmeant a lot to me. In the 20's the artist chose existing productssuch as a bike wheel and fork or a wine bottle rack and declaredthem works of art.
Another inspiration came from the project called 'Bus ShelterIV' by Dennis Adams from the USA. Adams was invited, to designa bus shelter for Cathedral Square in Münster in 1987. Apart fromdesigning the actual shelter, the artist also attached photosto it about recent German history.
In 1993, Renate Stir and Frieder Schnock won a Holocaust memorialcompetition in Berlin-Schöneberg by suggesting the use of 80 platescarrying icons and texts that were to be attached to lamppoststhroughout the former Jewish residential area around BavarianSquare. Each icon and text quoted law or regulation levied againstJews between 1933 and 1945 to exclude them step-by-step from normallife. The 80 plates confront unprepared passers-by with aspectsof the history of the area they are in.
In 1995, the same artists contributed to the competition for aNational Holocaust Memorial just south of the Brandenburg Gate.Their suggestion was an actual bus stop on the site instead ofa memorial. Scheduled buses where to leave the site for the actualareas of terror and mass murder throughout Europe. The long busstop shelter was to be used for giving information on the sitesof Nazi terror to be visited and show short videos about them.
My support for so-called 'conceptual art', where the artist developsa concept which is subsequently realised by the artist alone oralong with others.
The Bus Shelter Project (1998) Never Forget!!!
The bus shelter project is my second intervention. The use of a common bus shelter onbus line No. 100 in front of Kurfürstenstraße 115/116 is to bring a forgotten place back to the present and maintain that memory for the future. It was clear to me from the start that my idea needed support.
First and foremost I had to win the assistance of Wall Ltd theowners of numerous public transport bus shelters in Berlin. Thecompany head, Hans Wall required just two days to give an 'okay'.A bus shelter was lacking at the bus stop on Kurfürstenstraße,so his company had to go through extensive planning and lengthyapplication procedure to finitely get building permission.
Research work on the written contents of the memorial posterswere catered for by Prof. Reinhard Rürup of Topography of Terrora public research centre and archive in Berlin dealing with aspectsof mass terror by Gestapo, SS and SA during the Third Reich.
What reasons lead me -by way of artistic means- to turn a tillthen non-existent site into a memorial?
First of all the feeling of personal commitment towards thosemembers of my family murdered by the Nazis. The fact that I livein Germany and Berlin furthers the desire to ensure that the crimesof the Third Reich be never forgotten. Finally, living as a Jewin Germany and Berlin means a permanent extra strain on day-to-daylife.
My lack of understanding why Berlin with its many Holocaust memorialhad not, up till then, pinpointed the site of Eichmann's so-calledJudenreferat.
The cultural office of the Borough of Berlin-Schöneberg informedmy that the owner of the property on which today an hotel standshad no interest what so ever, to allow a memorial plaque to beattached to wall of the existing building.
'Knowledgeable' and politically involved citizens in general visitmemorials and memorial sites. A memorial site positioned in themidst of day-to-day life could perhaps reach less interested citizens.
Bus stops are transit areas where people stand for shorter periodsof time. Bus schedules happen to interrupt the smooth flow ofdaily life. The most common thing people do in such a situationis either look at nearby shop windows or advertisements. My intentionwas to catch their attention unaware and tell them something aboutthe place where they're standing.
The bus shelter happens to be at a bus stop on the very popularBerlin bus line No. 100 that links Zoo Station in the centre offormer West Berlin with Alexander Platz Station in the centreof former East Berlin. On route the bus passes famous sites suchas the Reichstag, the Brandenburger Gate and the famous Unterden Linden Boulevard. From now on the route includes a dark aspectof Berlin and German history.
Marcel Duchamp's 'readymades' or 'objets trouvés' have alwaysmeant a lot to me. In the 20's the artist chose existing productssuch as a bike wheel and fork or a wine bottle rack and declaredthem works of art.
Another inspiration came from the project called 'Bus ShelterIV' by Dennis Adams from the USA. Adams was invited, to designa bus shelter for Cathedral Square in Münster in 1987. Apart fromdesigning the actual shelter, the artist also attached photosto it about recent German history.
In 1993, Renate Stir and Frieder Schnock won a Holocaust memorialcompetition in Berlin-Schöneberg by suggesting the use of 80 platescarrying icons and texts that were to be attached to lamppoststhroughout the former Jewish residential area around BavarianSquare. Each icon and text quoted law or regulation levied againstJews between 1933 and 1945 to exclude them step-by-step from normallife. The 80 plates confront unprepared passers-by with aspectsof the history of the area they are in.
In 1995, the same artists contributed to the competition for aNational Holocaust Memorial just south of the Brandenburg Gate.Their suggestion was an actual bus stop on the site instead ofa memorial. Scheduled buses where to leave the site for the actualareas of terror and mass murder throughout Europe. The long busstop shelter was to be used for giving information on the sitesof Nazi terror to be visited and show short videos about them.
My support for so-called 'conceptual art', where the artist developsa concept which is subsequently realised by the artist alone oralong with others.