Merlin Bauer

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Merlin Bauer (born September 1, 1974 in Graz ) is an Austrian action and concept artist .

Bauer's pictorial work focuses on photographic works, objects, installations and interventions in public space . The artist focuses on the topics of architecture, urban planning, transience, presence and absence, the formation of cultural identity of the individual citizen and also their loss, and, last but not least, the dealings of authorities and decision-makers with the city entrusted to them.

For the artistic treatment of such complex topics, Bauer has worked closely with various partners from the start.

life and work

After completing secondary school and training as a carpenter , Bauer worked from 1993 to 1995 as program manager at the Ulm Jazzkeller Sauschdall . In 1995 he co-founded the Ulm Jazz Kartell Festival and the Radio freeFM radio station in the Ulm City Hall , where he presented two radio programs within three years: the interface of sensations - the reality radio show and the live radio show real-time cooking . During this time, Bauer also founded the group taktischklug (1997–2001) and directed its intervention and performance project locally banal (1997/98). At the same time he was involved in the development of the UG Ulm series of events in the Ulm Stadthaus, which was no longer realized after the resignation of the then Stadthaus director, and took over the project management for the music and media art festival wienernacht in cooperation with the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the International Danube Festival Ulm.

In addition to other radio projects for various public broadcasters (ORF, SWR, BR, SRG-DRS), Bauer played a key role in the Internet radio platform “Radionetzwerk” (in cooperation with the BR) and the radio station radio01.net (with the “gruppe tactischklug “Including partners) and designed the youth magazine Puls for the Südwest Presse Ulm.

In 2002, now based in Cologne, Bauer expanded his field of work with the series of events Unter dem Pflaster der Strand - current locations and the associated beach box - an “ice cream seller” bike with a red and white refrigerated trailer and a parasol -: At the So far more than 90 events with various partners (including Marcus Schmickler , Norbert Arns, Christopher Dell , Büro BeL, Anja Dorn, Rocko Schamoni , April, DJ Hell ) also played a role (FM) pirate station , but the visual component of the Bauer's interventions, performances and exemplary displays of public space are becoming increasingly important. The beach box , a vehicle with a trailer with a red and white decor that was visible from afar and borrowed from a wallpaper book by Le Corbusier , offered guests and temporary curious people an opportunity for a social get-together in urban areas on the occasion of current topics.

The demolition of Cologne's Josef Haubrich Forum on Neumarkt in autumn 2002 and the impending demolition of the Cologne opera ensemble including the theater , an icon of post-war architecture by Wilhelm Riphahn , led Bauer to his project Love your city . A 26 meter wide and 4 meter high signal red lettering, one of the much photographed and filmed Cologne landmarks from the start, was installed on the Cologne Rhine pavilion at the beginning of the project and found some time later high above the north-south route , in the immediate vicinity of the opera ensemble , his place. One photo was used in the theater as a set for the play Cologne affairs .

For several years, Merlin Bauer honored exemplary buildings of post-war Cologne architecture with love for your city and brought them back into collective memory: he decorated them, one after the other, with an oversized touring prize ribbon during a ceremony and won laudators for the celebrations from a wide variety of disciplines. The honor went from building to building. A price tag on the Amerika Haus , the last building to be honored, was disposed of during the renovation work. Another was at the hotel on Augustinerplatz (with parking garage). The prize ribbon and the laudation should open your eyes to the peculiarities of the architecture, which has mostly been neglected for years.

Another work by Bauer, created in collaboration with the artists Manu Burghardt and Owen Gump , was a “protest car” under the motto: “You are artists and we are not!”, Which was part of the Cologne Rose Monday procession in 2010.

Merlin Bauer lives and works in Cologne .

Working in public space

Love your city lettering above the Cologne north-south drive
  • 2008 Love your city lettering and feature pages, April 15, 2008 in the Spanish building of Cologne's town hall
  • 2007 Big love your city lettering above the Cologne north-south drive, seen from Offenbachplatz.
  • 2005 Love your city price loop at the hotel on Augustinerplatz, car park with hotel, Hohe Strasse / Augustinerstr., Cologne

Exhibitions, participation in exhibitions, interventions

  • You are artists and we are not! , Rose Monday carriage in cooperation with Manu Burghardt and Owen Gump, Cologne Rose Monday procession 2010
  • Kunsthallen-Kiosk , Art Cologne, Cologne, 2009
  • Feuilleton, April 15, 2008 , Art Cologne, Cologne, 2008
  • Love your city - Prize ribbon at the Amerikahaus, Cologne , speech by Michael Zinganel, December 4th, 2007 |
  • Love your city price loop at the Parkcafé in Cologne, speeches by Aleida Assmann and Jan Assmann , November 5, 2007
  • Love your city price loop at the telecommunications building in Cologne, speeches by Thomas Sieverts and Boris Sieverts, October 3, 2007
  • Love your city - Prize loop to Neu St. Alban , Cologne, ceremonial speeches by Friedrich Kurrent and Gottfried Böhm , September 28, 2007
  • Love your city price loop at the Landeshaus, Cologne-Deutz, speech by Walter Prigge, July 26, 2007
  • Inauguration of the great love your city lettering above the north-south drive, Cologne, celebratory speech by Friedrich Wolfram Heubach , May 11, 2007
  • Art Cologne, Cologne, 2007
  • Love your city - Prize ribbon at the Cologne Opera House, keynote speeches by Hiltrud Kier and Peter Zumthor , September 22, 2006
  • Entry 2006 , exhibition contribution with love your city , Essen
  • Art Cologne, Cologne, 2006
  • At home, installation as part of Love Your City , Art Cologne, Cologne, 2005
  • Love your city - Prize ribbon at Haus Wefers, speech by Martin Struck, Cologne, September 25, 2005
  • Love your city - price loop at the Afri-Cola-Haus, speech by Bazon Brock , Cologne, August 31, 2005
  • Alexander Markschies, Love your city price loop at the parking garage with hotel, Augustinerstrasse, Cologne, July 15, 2005
  • Inauguration of the great love your city lettering at the panorama pavilion of the Cologne trade fair, Cologne, celebratory speech by Hans Schilling , May 13, 2005
  • Group exhibition of the scholarship holders of the Kölnischer Kunstverein and the Imhoff Foundation, Kölnischer Kunstverein , January 2005
  • Du bist die Stadt , record / film presentation in Deutz-Kalker-Bad, co-production with Art Cologne and galerienkoeln, Cologne, November 2003
  • “Fair in the gallery”, contribution to the group exhibition with the Strandbox , Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne, November 2003
  • "Radical Architecture III: Processing Uncertainty", Museum of Applied Arts Cologne, contribution to the group exhibition with the Strandbox , September 2003
  • Premiere of the film documentary for Under the Pavement the Beach - Momentary Places , a co-production with Art Cologne and galerienkoeln, Hotel Crowne Plaza, Cologne, November 2002

Prizes and awards

  • 2006–2007 scholarship from the Kunststiftung NRW
  • 2004–2008 work space grant from the Kölnischer Kunstverein and the Imhoff Foundation
  • 2003 Cologne Architecture Prize KAP 2003 for the beach under the pavement - momentary places

literature

  • Merlin Bauer (Ed.): Love your city. with the revised presentations by the laudators, overarching texts by Ulrich Gutmair, Lilian Haberer, Barbara Hess, Susanne Kippenberger and Wolfgang Pehnt , an interview by Reiner Schützeichel with and a conversation by Merlin Bauer with Kasper König . German and English Brian Currid; Karl Hoffmann]. Extensive image material, including articles by Boris Becker (photographer) , Albrecht Fuchs, Candida Höfer , Veit Landwehr, Jan Höhe, Tom May, Peter Pedaci and Kris Willner. Greven-Verlag, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-7743-0412-3 .

Web links

Commons : Merlin Bauer  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Since 1998 University of Applied Arts Vienna.
personal data
SURNAME Bauer, Merlin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berlin Wall
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian artist
DATE OF BIRTH September 1, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Graz