2023-08-17 11:16:00
It is difficult and even scary to imagine how much a car would have cost continuously in the center of Cologne for more than thirty-five years, if it were an ordinary car. A concrete car is parked here on the busy Hohenzollernring for about the same time – a well-known and inconspicuous … landmark of this city.
A gray object in the middle of the roadway can easily be mistaken for the superstructure of some underground technical structure or for the entrance to the bunker, if you do not know how it arose and appeared in this place.
A concrete car on the Domstrasse in Cologne in October 1969. On the right is a parking clock provided to the artist for this project by the city of Cologne. Photo: Hannes Hemann/dpa/picture-alliance
The concrete car was created in October 1969, the result of a performance that has dragged on for many decades and is now again attracting attention, as the parking lot at the Hohenzollernring will soon end.
Until the end of 2023, they want to move the bulky artifact to another place, more suitable and consistent with the original concept of the author, the German artist and sculptor Wolf Vostell (Wolf Vostell, 1932-1998). One of the first representatives of capitalist realism, a pioneer of ecology, installation, video art and the international Fluxus movement, Vostel was the first in the history of art to turn television into part of a work of art. But in this publication we will still talk about cars.
Stop, move, you’re awful!
The artist’s action “Ruhender Verkehr” (“Resting Movement”) took place at the very end of the 1960s on a quiet street Domstrasse near Cologne Cathedral. Vostel borrowed the name for his performance from the official German language. In traffic rules and other documents in Germany, this is how parked or stopped vehicles are called.
Each car individually allows you to enjoy all the benefits of personal mobility, but at the same time, all of them taken together – tin avalanches – take away a significant part of the living space in modern cities.
According to statistics, in Germany private cars are used on average only one hour per day. The rest of the time they spend without moving on the streets, in public or private garages or in parking lots.
Opel Kapitän in a 1958 Opel publicity photo. Photo: National Motor Museum/Heritage-Images/picture alliance
One autumn day, Wolf Vostel arrived at Domstrasse in his Opel, a 1964 Opel Kapitän. License plate “K-HM 175”. Everything was ready on site in order to place this car in a kind of time capsule – to create a concrete shell and then put this object in an eternal parking lot.
In this way, Wolf Vostel intended to categorically and for a long time take a parking space in a city that, during the post-war reconstruction and during the German economic miracle, became more and more convenient for motorists and less and less comfortable for pedestrians – residents and visitors of Cologne.
More than half a century ago, the artist and master of the happening criticized the mistakes of urban planners and predicted an aggravation of the transport situation – up to a complete collapse, that is, he spoke about the problems that have to be solved now.
troublemaker
According to the city newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, the idea for this performance was born in Amsterdam, where Wolf Vostel saw the work of the American conceptual artist Bruce Naumann, who had a tape recorder with a tape recorded in concrete on it screaming.
The German artist conceived the project in Cologne to demonstrate his admiration for this idea. Financing was provided by a familiar gallery owner. One of my friends, who once got the profession of a bricklayer, helped with advice on how to prepare everything and implement it on the spot.
Fragment from the documentary “Vostelle and Others, or Lipstick for Vietnam”
The action did not go unnoticed by the worried residents of neighboring houses, passers-by and various respectable burghers, whose comments were immortalized in the footage of the documentary Time.news. Gross hooliganism! Disgrace, where is the public order department looking? What will happen if everyone starts to allow themselves this? If you have money, can you do anything? A sane person wouldn’t have come up with this! It’s already so narrow here, now it’s generally difficult to get through …
Approximately such comments, in which shades of the local Cologne dialect – Kölsch, are immediately recognizable, could be heard during the creative process. While concrete was being poured into the wooden formwork around the Opel, music was playing from the car radio inside, a direct reference to Naumann’s work.
However, the authorities were inactive … as they were aware of the action and even provided a parking clock for temporary use, which was supposed to emphasize the artist’s intention. After the opening of the sculpture, or rather, the removal of the wooden formwork, the monument to the frozen movement stood in the parking lot near the gallery for several weeks.
These days, another art fair has just opened in the city, numerous visitors of which, of course, literally rushed in droves to look at this conceptual work of modern art, completely paralyzing all traffic on the Domstrasse …
“Imagine that every car on the autobahns and streets suddenly becomes concrete,” the artist himself addressed those present at the action, emphasizing that his work allows for hundreds of different interpretations. Later, over the years, Wolf Vostel concreted several more cars in various places in Germany and other countries.
A concrete car on the Hohenzollernring in 2022Photo: Horst Galuschka/IMAGO
inconspicuous attraction
A few weeks later, the “Resting Movement” was moved to the New Market – Neumarkt (Neumarkt), where it was then planned to create an open-air sculpture park. However, the idea was not implemented, so after about a decade and a half, the concrete-filled Opel was installed in the middle of Hohenzollernring Street – on a specially allocated island between the lanes, which, however, did not correspond to Vostel’s concept.
The artist wanted the object to be in a parking space, emphasizing that cars are taking up more and more urban space, and antagonizing those who are just trying to find a place for their car.
Members of the 1990s musical group 4 Reeves from Cologne pose during a photo session on a concrete car. Photo: United Archives/imago images
Topical issues for city authorities
In recent years, projects have been implemented in Cologne and other German cities that aim to make urban spaces more comfortable for people in general and those citizens who use more environmentally friendly means of transportation.
Everywhere, for example, new lanes for cyclists are being built, under which part of the roadway is taken away. As a result, in 2022 Cologne was even able to improve its place in the traditional study of the All-German Cycling Club (ADFC), dedicated to the infrastructure and conditions for cyclists in German cities. However, it is too early to stop here.
What other changes can you see? City parking spaces in front of cafes and restaurants, if requested, are now leased to these establishments for the installation of tables or terrace equipment. Some shopping streets are completely closed to the movement of private cars, turning them into pedestrian zones – however, these experiments do not always and do not always cause the approval of business owners and residents of these streets themselves.
On one of the busiest shopping streets in Cologne – Venloer Strasse – in the summer of 2023, the rights of all road users – motorists, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians – were equalized, limiting the speed of vehicles to twenty kilometers per hour. Plus, parking lots have been removed and one-way traffic has been introduced … This has been done so far as an experiment, which not everyone is happy about, but it is still too early to draw conclusions.
Other works by Wolf Vostel. Photos
Sculpture by Wolf Vostel “Concrete Cadillacs in the form of a naked Maja” (“2 Betoncadillacs in Form der nackten Maja”) in the middle of a roundabout on Rathenaupplatz in BerlinPhoto: stock&people/imago Sculpture by Wolf Vostel in the Spanish municipality of Malpartida de Cáceres, where he furnished his studio. The artist himself called this landscape “a work of art of nature”Photo: Pond5 Images / IMAGO Wolf Vostel’s sculpture “Train” (“Zug”), created in the 1970s Photo: Cola Images / IMAGO “) 1988 in front of the theater in the German city of MarlPhoto: Stefan Ziese / Zoonar / IMAGO “Lipstick Bomber” (“Lipstick Bomber”) by Wolf Vostel, 1969 Photo: Cola Images / IMAGO Installation “Mit(h)ropa” 1974 Photo: Uli Deck /dpa/picture alliance “6 TV Dé-Coll/age” installation, 1963Photo: Javier Larrea/IMAGO
New place for concrete car
We can say that the concrete car in the eternal parking lot is now finally waiting in the wings. From a site specially created for him, he will be transported to one of the parking spaces near the historical art society Kölnischer Kunstverein (Kölnischer Kunstverein), that is, he will fulfill his destiny according to the artist’s intention.
This was reported to the local publication 24RHEIN by the mayor of the central administrative district of Cologne-Innenstadt Andreas Hupke (Andreas Hupke) from the Green Party. The exact date of moving this city attraction is still unknown, but everything should be done before the end of the year. Before being installed in a new location, the monument to the frozen movement will be sent for restoration, which will take about three weeks.
In its former place, the concrete car had one very practical function. This part of the Cologne boulevard ring near Rudolfplatz is traditionally a meeting place for football fans after some significant victories – for example, at world and European championships or the Olympic Games.
Fans of the German or other winning national team flock here immediately after the final whistle in cars adorned with flags to celebrate success together. A concrete car on such days willy-nilly becomes a participant in such motorized parades – there is enough space on the roof, hood and trunk for several dozen people.
The German men’s team, however, last gave a proper occasion in 2014, the women’s – in 2016…
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