Rathenauplatz (Berlin)
| Rathenauplatz | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 Rathenauplatz with Wolf Vostell's sculpture 2 concrete Cadillacs in the form of the naked Maja |
|
| Basic data | |
| place | Berlin |
| District | Grunewald |
| Created | 1957 |
| Newly designed | 1987 (sculpture) |
| Confluent streets |
Kurfürstendamm , Hubertusallee , Halenseestrasse |
| use | |
| User groups | Pedestrians , cyclists , road traffic , public transport |
| Space design | Concrete Cadillacs |
| Technical specifications | |
| Square area | 250 m² |
The Rathenau Place is located in the Berlin district of Grunewald of the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf at the western end of the Kurfuerstendamm . The name can be traced back to the former Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau .
Location and description
The square has three road junctions (Kurfürstendamm, Hubertusallee , Halenseestrasse ) and forms the entrance to the Grunewald with its lakes via the neighboring Koenigsallee .
The square was named on August 31, 1957 on the occasion of the 90th birthday of the then German Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau, who was murdered a few hundred meters away in Koenigsallee in 1922 . The city motorway has been running under the square in a tunnel since 1958, which was only created for this construction work.
Concrete Cadillacs
The sculpture 2 concrete Cadillacs in the form of naked Maja by Wolf Vostell , created for the 750th anniversary of the city of Berlin in 1987, is located on the central island of the square, which is laid out as a green lawn. Among other things, the sculpture consists of two each almost 6 meters long Cadillac cars. As part of this anniversary celebration, the Berlin Senate and the Neue Berliner Kunstverein organized the exhibition Sculpture Boulevard on Kurfürstendamm and Tauentzienstrasse . However, hardly any of the sculptures from that time have survived. With his work, Wolf Vostell presented a “24-hour dance of the car drivers around the golden calf” and thereby pointed to the transience of “car culture”. Strong public protest had formed against the installation of the sculpture. Hardly any other work of art was so controversial in Berlin in the post-war period .
maintenance
The Vostell family, owners of the sculpture, signed a contract with the State of Berlin for the maintenance of the sculpture after the artist's death. Here it is regulated that the Vostell family is responsible for the maintenance (renovation) of the sculpture. The State of Berlin is responsible for the maintenance of the property that the State of Berlin owns. This includes, among other things, lighting and green space maintenance.
In the meantime, however, the work of art has largely been accepted and over the years it has increasingly suffered from algae growth, moss and exhaust gases. The Pro City West association has been taking care of the necessary renovation and cleaning work since 2006, for which around 100,000 euros were raised through advertising. One of the initiators is Peter Ristau from Ku'damm-Karree . The ailing car panels were carefully cut out. The renovation was carried out under the artistic achievement of the architect Christian Neeße in cooperation with the expert Steffen Dworok and Wolf Vostell's son Rafael Vostell and then illuminated by the Berlin lighting designer Andreas Boehlke. The management of the nearby Ku'damm-Karree high-rise and the cleaning company ISC Industrieservice Czech from Zossen had the cleaning done at their own expense after the renovation work. A special dry ice process was used for this, which was completed on May 27, 2013 and finally inaugurated by Vostell's grandson, Levin Vostell.
Web links
- Rathenauplatz. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near Kaupert )
- Entry in berlin.de. In: berlin.de - The official capital city portal. District Office Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, accessed on June 21, 2020 (German).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rathenauplatz. In: berlin.de - The official capital city portal. District Office Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, December 4, 2014, accessed on June 21, 2020 .
- ^ Cure for the Cadillacs. Retrieved June 15, 2020 .
- ^ Concrete Cadillacs by Wolf Vostell. In: berlin.de - The official capital city portal. District Office Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, July 24, 2018, accessed on June 21, 2020 .
- ↑ Klaus Huebner: Interview Rafael Vostell - 2 concrete Cadillacs in the form of the naked Maja. In: YouTube. January 2013, accessed June 15, 2020 .
- ^ Cure for the Cadillacs. Retrieved June 15, 2020 .
- ^ Concrete Cadillacs by Wolf Vostell. July 24, 2018, accessed June 15, 2020 .
- ↑ New shine for the concrete Cadillacs. Retrieved June 15, 2020 .
- ↑ Private initiative protects art on Rathenauplatz. Retrieved June 15, 2020 .
- ↑ Cadillacs freshly blasted. Photo and text in the Berliner Zeitung of May 24, 2013, p. 16
Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 41.3 ″ N , 13 ° 17 ′ 8.2 ″ E