Sculpture Boulevard

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The sculpture boulevard was a temporary exhibition of seven large sculptures and installations in public space in Berlin between Rathenauplatz and Wittenbergplatz on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of Berlin in 1987 as well as in connection with the cultural capital of 1988.

The project was carried out by the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (NBK) on behalf of the then Senator for Culture, Volker Hassemer . The exhibition is one of the most controversial art presentations in German post-war history. The proponent Bazon Brock , on the other hand, spoke of "perhaps the largest public discussion about modern art after 1945".

Sculptures

GroßeFrauenFigurBerlin , Rolf Szymanski ; moved to Berlin-Tiergarten , Budapester Strasse 35

In 1985, Volker Hassemer (CDU), then Senator for Cultural Affairs, commissioned the Neue Berliner Kunstverein (NBK), headed by Lucie Schauer, to organize a sculpture path in the city of West Berlin : Kurfürstendamm and Tauentzienstrasse .

The following Berlin artists were selected for a "temporary museum":

Edward Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz did not realize : The Dumb Dumm Duel , installation / action concept for Adenauerplatz and The Ozymandias Parade , multi-media installation in front of the Schaubühne on Lehniner Platz .

The organizers thought the couple's two projects were too “provocative” and risky, as they were supposed to take place during and against Erich Honecker's visit to West Berlin.

1.8 million marks were available for the project , according to the responsible curator Barbara Straka it was 1.2 million marks. Each sculpture was rewarded with 50,000 marks. The exhibition lasted from April 27, 1986 to March 14, 1987. Despite the time limit, three sculptures remained at their location after the exhibition ended: Vostell's concrete Cadillacs , Erben's pyramid and Matschinsky-Denninghoff's Berlin .

reception

Originally, the sculpture trail was intended to demonstrate Berlin's “modernity” as part of a historic city anniversary. Hassemer anticipated resistance, but he completely underestimated the dimensions of the coming protest. The display of abstract monumental sculptures was previously reserved for shielded rooms, parks and squares and was now a shock to the general public.

According to a Rias survey, 76 percent of the population rejected the sculptures and found the objects to be "horrible deformities". A citizens' initiative was formed against the exhibition with Ephraim Kishon as patron, signatures were collected and demonstrations were held. The art itself in the form of happenings was also brought into position against the project.

The level of resistance, in turn, shocked the art scene. The organizer Lucie Schauer said: "We were not prepared for such adventures." In retrospect, later commentators look at the events of the time with amazement and incomprehension, the process of getting used to abstract large-scale sculpture had meanwhile reached the population.

literature

  • Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (ed.): Sculpture Boulevard Kurfürstendamm Tauenzien. Reimer, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-496-01039-8 , exhibition catalog in two volumes.
  • Marius Babias, Sophie Goltz, Kathrin Becker (eds.): Art and the public: 40 years of the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein . König, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-86560-715-7 .
  • Thomas Wulffen : Sculpture Boulevard. Berlin: Art around the 750th anniversary celebration. In: Kunstforum International , Volume 84, 1986, p. 326.

Movies

Web links

Commons : Sculpture Boulevard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jochim Stoltenberg: Senator and idea generator - Volker Hassemer is 70 years old. In: Berliner Morgenpost , January 20, 2014.
  2. ↑ Marius Babias, Sophie Goltz, Kathrin Becker (eds.): Art and the public: 40 years of the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein . König, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-86560-715-7 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e N.N. : Boulevard of Twilight. A sculpture parade on the Kudamm drives Berliners to despair. In: Der Spiegel , April 13, 1987, no.16.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Sabine Vogel: The art of taxpayers - Berlin's Boulevard of Sculptures drives the citizens to the barricades: leaflets, demonstrations, human chains and souvenir photos. In: taz , April 1, 1987.
  5. ^ A b Sebastian Preuss: In 1987 the "sculpture boulevard" turned the street into an arena for an art fight. In: Berliner Zeitung , May 4, 2011
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g Barbara Straka : Sculpture Boulevard. In: Braunschweig University of Fine Arts (HBK), February 5, 2007, lecture, (PDF; 74 kB).
  7. ↑ Josef Erben (* 1936 Mährisch-Ostrau , lives and works in Berlin), in: SkulpTour Berlin. In: welt-der-form.net , accessed on February 2, 2020.
  8. ↑ Photos of the sculpture April 13, 1981 in: flickriver.com . The current location is next to the building of the Universal Music Group , the former egg cold store , Stralauer Allee .
  9. ↑ Biljana Arandelovic, Public Art and Urban Memorials in Berlin , Springer, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-319-73494-1 , p. 213, limited preview in the Google book search.
  10. ↑ List of exhibitions: Sculpture Boulevard Kurfürstendamm Tauentzien: Art in Public Space Berlin 1987. In: Neuer Berliner Kunstverein , accessed on February 2, 2020.
  11. ^ Sculpture Boulevard . In: District Office Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
  12. ↑ pyramid, 24.2.2006. In: District Office Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf .