Stationary traffic (plastic)
Traffic at rest is an action sculpture on Cologne's Hohenzollernring, which was created by Wolf Vostell in 1969 . It consists of a car completely set in concrete , the contours of which have been largely simplified.
Structure and stations of plastic
Wolf Vostell had his roadworthy Opel Kapitän (model designation: P 2.6 - built in 1960), with the registration number K-HM 175, boarded in a parking space in front of the Art Intermedia art gallery on Domstrasse and cast in reinforced concrete . The 15-ton plastic has been on the median of the Hohenzollernring since 1989, where - contrary to the original intention - it no longer occupies a parking space.
The structure of the sculpture took place after public announcement from October 2, 1969 to October 13, 1969. First, a floor slab was made in a first concrete casting. Two days later, Vostell parked his car on it, which was then paneled with wood and reinforced with steel . The second concrete pour took place on October 6th. Finally, on October 13, Vostell set up a parking meter next to the car and removed the formwork.
In the following years the sculpture was exhibited in front of the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris (1974–1975) and in front of the New National Gallery in Berlin . Until she moved to the Hohenzollernring, she stood in front of the Cologne art gallery at Josef-Haubrich-Hof .
Following up on the stationary traffic , Wolf Vostell created the plastic Concrete Traffic in Chicago in 1970 . A Cadillac encased in concrete with a thickness of 20 cm stood for five months between parked vehicles next to the Museum of Contemporary Art before it was set up in the Sculpture Garden of the University of Chicago and since 2016 has been in a parking area in a public parking garage on the campus of the University of Chicago.
Further sculptures made of vehicles and concrete by Vostell are on the Rathenauplatz in Berlin. Two concrete Cadillacs in the form of the naked Maja (1987) and in the Museo Vostell Malpartida in Malpartida de Cáceres , Spain VOAEX (1976).
On the occasion of Wolf Vostell's 75th birthday in 2007, Cornel Wachter poured his A-Class Mercedes in a concrete coat. The work, intended as a homage to the artist colleague who died in 1998, stands in front of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn .
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the completion of the work of art, several artists held a birthday party on January 26, 2019 with happenings , a video installation, a champagne reception and a tour of places in Cologne where the sculpture used to stand. According to the cultural program "Kompressor" from Deutschlandfunk Kultur, stationary traffic is " Cologne's most famous public work of art". Whenever 1. FC Köln or Besiktas Istanbul win a title, soccer fans celebrate there and bring traffic to a standstill.
Double work of art
On March 17, 1993, the "banana sprayer" Thomas Baumgärtel applied hundreds of his spray bananas to the plastic on a dark blue background, which, in his opinion, created a "double work of art". After Vostell protests, the bananas were removed again after a while.
For the cycling classic Rund um Köln on May 16, 1993, a 6 × 10 meter yellow cloth with 3,333 black graffiti bananas by Thomas Baumgärtel was sprayed and draped over the "stationary traffic". The installation “Art on Art” served as a podium for 22 triathletes during the cycle race in the start-finish area , who pedaled there on four fixed training wheels. This action was repeated in 1994 and 1995 at the same place on the occasion of the follow-up events around Cologne . Afterwards, tarpaulins (catalog number 93-34138) and photo documents were donated to the historical archive of the city of Cologne under the inventory number 1545.
literature
- Pablo J. Rico (Ed.): Vostell. Automobiles . Wasmuth, Tübingen 2000, ISBN 3-8030-3093-5
Web links
- Video “Traffic at rest” on Youtube
- About Wolf Vostell's Concrete Traffic in Chicago
- Pictures of the banana graffiti campaign
- 50 years ago: artist Wolf Vostell concreted his car . Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger January 25, 2019
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Pablo J. Rico (Ed.): Vostell. Automobiles . Wasmuth, Tübingen 2000, ISBN 3-8030-3093-5 , p. 96
- ↑ Concrete Traffic since 2016 in a parking garage on the University of Chicago campus
- ↑ Where is the art parked? Wolf Vostell's “Resting Traffic” from 1969 in Cologne today , report on Deutschlandfunk Kultur, published and accessed on January 28, 2019
- ↑ Image and image description under www.bananensprayer.de , accessed on March 25, 2010
- ↑ Marc Petersdorff: »Resting traffic« , the concrete car on Cologne's Hohenzollernring, online , article from September 21, 2005, accessed on January 19, 2016
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 16.6 ″ N , 6 ° 56 ′ 21.7 ″ E