At the end of June 2017 a proposal entitled “Wege suchen – Wege finden” (Seeking Ways – Finding Ways) was submitted in a competition for art-for-architecture for two staircases at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. Each of the staircases forms a projecting block in the courtyard of the Berlin City Palace. Each of them is being restored in the original form as created by Andreas Schlüter.
general view
17-12-001
detail
17-12-002
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17-12-003
general view
17-12-004
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Explanation
Seeking Ways and Finding Ways are two murals that remain open to different options. They can be executed together and give visual cohesion connecting the two staircases through their unity of content and form. Each of them can also be executed individually and combined with another artistic statement, as each mural is thematically autonomous.
Seeking Ways and Finding Ways are short formulae that reflect the idea and meaning of the Humboldt Forum. They are not about what is here but about what is possible here, less about the status than about the message, less about the function than about the potential. Art for architecture should not restrict itself to didactic labelling of a cosmopolitan and intercultural site, but take a step further, open up perspectives and gain impulses from the existing cultural institution. For this reason the two murals not only display diversity but also place syntactic diversity in a visionary context of meaning: ways that are sought actively and found with certainty. The messages of the images thus form a dual succession. One is the fulfilment of the other.
The mural Seeking Ways shows diversity as a structure of approaches, a staccato of directions that are not continued. By means of inversions, unambiguous perception is undermined and disorientation is suggested. The theme of Seeking Ways is not made into a problem but executed as a positive, encouraging panorama that radiates energy.
The mural Finding Ways shows diversity by representing the antithesis of staccato: legato. It presents a scenario of actions leading to an aim. The fulfilment that is visible here rests on the connections that flow through, and above all on the enhanced abundance of colour.
Seeking Ways and Finding Ways are not only visual signals that confer meaning, but also and above all emotional impulses that determine the experience of the space. People should like to be here. They should, for example, feel motivated to use the stairs instead of the lifts. Each staircase block is an emphasised part of the building. A magnetic effect should therefore also unfold inside them. On the one hand, the image structures transcend the symmetry of the architecture, and on the other hand they connect the two floor levels.