2024-01-07 14:21:25
Where no one normally greets each other, there will be a big hello this Saturday evening. On the platform at the Hansaplatz subway station, Berliners coming out of the subways from Steglitz or Osloer Straße hug Stefan Marx. It’s the artist’s birthday and he’s celebrating in his own way.
Marx is exhibiting his new work “16 Behind Track Areas” in the subway station. On 16 posters, where razors or concerts are usually advertised, there are excerpts from song lyrics or simple wisdom in different languages.
Pause at the Hansaplatz subway station
“Don’t go breaking my heart” read passengers. Or in Japanese: “Thank you for waiting.” Whether the homeless man who is scribbling loudly on the platform and clapping his hands has any interest in art is uncertain. Other people in the subway station, certainly art enthusiasts, are even more enthusiastic about the opening of the exhibition and are eagerly pulling out their smartphones.
Andrea Kerkes from Kreuzberg also came. She enjoys art in public spaces. If she had her way, there would be more of it, “because it takes us away from our hectic everyday lives.” Art like that of Stefan Marx in the subway station motivates you to pause. It also leads to more mindfulness, says Kerkes.
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The “16 rear track areas” are part of “Grotto“ – this is the name of a project curated by Leonie Herweg from the Grisebach auction house. The exhibition opening takes place not only underground, but also above ground. In a room where the floor has been taped off due to renovation work and a record player is playing Mike Hurley’s “First Songs,” Stefan Marx signs the exhibition catalog. Art enthusiasts can also buy the limited edition postcards with their favorite sentences from the posters. In this way the project is intended to refinance itself.
Photo gallery
The 16 posters contain excerpts from song lyrics, little words of wisdom or other scraps of text.Benjamin Pritzkuleit
Many people pull out their smartphones to take photos of the posters.Benjamin Pritzkuleit
The artist created his work site-specifically.Benjamin Pritzkuleit
Stefan Marx put texts in different languages on the posters.Benjamin Pritzkuleit
The exhibition is intended to motivate you to pause.Benjamin Pritzkuleit
Opposite at Bartningallee number 5 is the Coffee & Wine, a bar where Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling are served in small plastic cups because the crowds that evening are far too big for the small restaurant. Around a hundred people came. The opening mainly takes place outside. You feel a little reminded of the Corona times.
On the one hand, the platform at the Hansaplatz subway station has the usual Berlin misery: the screaming homeless man whose coins are scattered on the floor, a woman in a turquoise blue winter jacket who keeps stamping her foot, shouting “crap” and then shouting Ticket machine hammers, a broken liquor bottle. Someone left half a pack of grapes on a bench. In another, a young man in a tracksuit sleeps without a bag or backpack. Nearby: a bit of vomit. An elderly woman wears a tattered disposable mask under her nose.
Stefan Marx: “Every picture stands for itself”
On the other hand, there is art in a listed building until January 31st. Stefan Marx has created a low-threshold offer with the “16 rear track areas”. Anyone waiting for the subway and not looking at their smartphone for a moment has the opportunity to take it in and think about sentences like “Adieu, wrong plans”. Or if you understand Vietnamese, you might feel compelled to listen to the rain (“Listen to the rain”).
The artist Stefan Marx often works with typography.Benjamin Pritzkuleit
“Each picture stands on its own,” says the artist, but in the next sentence he explains that he has created a “total work of art” here in the Hansaplatz subway station. Maybe it’s both at the same time. Because unlike in a museum or gallery, the harried Berliner doesn’t have the time to stroll from picture to picture. It’s more likely that a poster with the scrap of text caught his attention completely by chance – the individual image works in this way even without the others. At the same time, the “16 rear track areas” in the subway station can very well be understood as a gallery. Sometimes you just wait longer for the train and walk up and down the platform. It is almost impossible for those waiting to not have a view of the entire work if they are looking for distraction away from the digital.
“People don’t dare go into galleries,” says curator Herweg. Here at the Hansaplatz subway station there are no expectations of visitors to the exhibition. And in fact: Nobody assumes great art expertise in public spaces, on the contrary; Maybe the lonely homeless person will also benefit from the art of Stefan Marx when a poster says that the sun goes down alone (“The sun goes down alone”).
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