Rendez-Vous in Hannover
Hannover Central Station
The Lister Miele Tunnel is one of Hannover’s most central and until recently least appealing thoroughfares. Now it has been transformed into a pop-up gallery. urKultur was invited to advise Deutsche Bahn Station & Service and the City of Hannover on a set of measures to improve the tunnel. As a result the tunnel was given a small makeover, the original vitrines have been repaired and activated as a new platform for art in the city. The pop-up space has been inaugurated with two especially commissioned sets of artworks by Christoph Niemann. “Rendezvous I“ tells the humorous story of a white circle which in each picture transforms itself - from tennis ball to egg to a though bubble to a rock, thereby displaying Niemann’s humour and talent for abstraction. "Rendezvous II" is the story of two mirrored solitary characters experiencing a series of events which eventually leads to them to a heart-warming reunion in the middle.
Client:DB Station & Service AG
Role: Curator & Commissioner (Ruth Ur & Julia Kaschlinski)
Date: 2023
Press: Nordwest Zeitung
Photos:DB AG / Jet-Foto, Ralf Kranert
Christoph Niemann, Wannsee 2022
S-Bahnhof Wannsee, Berlin
"Wir sind Berliner" is Christoph Niemann's second mural project at the Wannsee train station in
Berlin, curated by urKultur for Deutsche Bahn. For this second tunnel (31m long) in Wannsee station, the world-renowned Berlin-artist and Illustrator has designed two panoramic images at the Reichsbahnstraße/Nibelungenstraße exit. On the one side is featured an S-Bahn train populated with well-known Berlin figures such as the iconic Berlin bear, the Egyptian Nofretete statue and a punk. Niemann has included an unlucky commuter, with briefcase, who is chasing after the presumably missed train. The other side presents a view of the Straße des 17. Juni featuring some of Berlin's most famous monuments including the Brandenburg Gate and the Siegessäule victory column. The centre of Berlin is a well-known gathering point for demonstrations and here represented through multi-colour tiles are masses of demonstrators exercising their democratic right to have their voices heard. This new installation by Niemann is a celebration of Berlin's diversity and openness and is a counterpart to the previously completed work in the other tunnel, which celebrates and remembers the mixed history and identity of today's Wannsee.
Client: DB Station & Service AG
Role: Curator & Producer (Ruth Ur)
Date: 2022 (Permanent Installation)
Press: Kunstleben Berlin
Sophie von Hellermann, Schloss Freienwalde
Remembering Walther Rathenau, 100 Years After His Assassination
In 1909 the Weimar statesman and aesthete Walther Rathenau acquired and restored the Prussian royal palace at Bad Freienwalde outside of Berlin. Rathenau’s assassination by far-right extremists in 1922 renders him a martyred icon of German democracy. At the time of his murder he had been Foreign Minister for only three months. Today, the Schloss at Freienwalde is a museum dedicated to the life of Rathenau. To mark 100 years since Rathenau's assassination, urKultur together with Oxford University’s Jewish Country Houses Project has commissioned a new site-specific artwork in the Schloss by the painter, Sophie von Hellermann. Using her characteristic loose and lively brush strokes, von Hellermann is painting both on canvases, as well as directly onto the walls bringing some of the lost spirit back to the Schloss. Contemporary photographs give a strong sense of the Schloss interior during Rathenau's lifetime. Starting from these images, von Hellermann’s work hints towards both the life once lived there and a possible future. This project is supported by TORCH and Oxford In Berlin
Client: Schloss Freienwalde / Jewish Country Houses
Role: Curator (Ruth Ur)
Date: July 2022 (Permanent installation)
Press: Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Historic photographs: Courtesy of the Walther-Rathenau-Stift gGmbH Bad Freienwalde
Photographs: Courtesy the artist and Wentrup, Berlin. Photo: Matthias Kolb.
© Christian Jungeblodt & Jörg Gläscher
Ali Fitzgerald, Humboldthain
S-Bahnhof Humboldthain, Berlin
urKultur was commissioned to develop a concept for the upgrading of S-Bahnhof Humboldthain in the centre of Berlin. The overground station, built in 1935, is located beside the highly popular Volkspark Humboldthain. We asked Ali Fitzgerald to work with us on this unique commission. Ali has brought her hallmark wit and elegance to this commission, which celebrates the area known as Humboldthain as experienced through the four seasons. According to Ali, "I loved sprinkling the murals with little details—because they’re so accessible to people, I wanted subway riders to be able to spend some time looking at and enjoying them. I drew a lot of animal scenes at child height, so that kids could inspect and discover them. It’s so nice to hear a child shout, `Eichhörnchen!´ and get excited while looking at a painting. I also shifted things a bit as I went. So many older Wedding residents told me that they loved the murals, so I added extra scenes of elders enjoying activities like water aerobics or playing cards."
Client: DB Station&Service
Role: Curator (Ruth Ur & Julia Kaschlinski)
Date: 2022 (Permanent installation)