BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ. URBANARTSTORIES
No other public plaza is as strongly associated with Berlin, nor are metropolitan fantasies connected as closely with any other plaza as with “Alex”. Starkly different worlds collide here as modern big-city life encounters the provincial amid post-reunification buildings, renovated GDR architecture, and urban decay. A myriad of cultural and literary references ranging from Alfred Döblin’s novel and the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder all the way to the Weltzeituhr (World Time Clock) simultaneously add a fictional level to the horizon of urban reality.
After each generation has failed to realize their ideas for the plaza’s urban development, the project asks the central question of what, for the most varied of interest groups, makes Alexanderplatz a desirable public space. The participating artists come from various generations, and they employ media ranging from installation, actions, works based on photo- and film montage, all the way to dramatic scenarios. They share the experience of operating in public space in that they take as their starting point the direct dialogue between the work and the big city’s everyday routines and choreographies.
An important consideration in selecting the mixture of artistic positions was heterogeneous variety and site-specifity. The project seeks to promote cultural exchange within Europe, to fill Alexanderplatz with new life, and to instigate debate about the role of Alexanderplatz within the capital city and about art in public spaces.
An open exhibition form characterize this project, which spans many artistic fields. An on-site base has been set up and permanently manned during the project, serving as an information exchange, and providing site plan, artist fanzines, and giveaways. The base is also conceived as a forum for screening artistic and documentary films, lectures and discussions. A publication complements the project with literary and art-historical texts.
curated by Petra Reichensperger
assistance: Caroline Wolf
Program at Basis & Public Art at Berlin Alexanderplatz
Vernissage: 29. April 2005