Travelling Art

You may have seen the white trailer with black lettering on Friday as it toured around Berlin on its way to its final destination: Hafen Wannsee. I was lucky enough to catch the project at Potsdamer Platz and discovered a number of things I like about it! Firstly, the idea of bringing art into the everyday and secondly, the element of surprise, both of which work together.


Everyday art

In Berlin we are lucky enough to have access to a lot of outside and street art which we encounter every day by chance. However, this art is expected and how much time do we really take to appreciate it? It’s also effortless and often BIG. Although this is great, the element of surprise is missing and these pieces become almost too “everyday”.


Boo!

The element of surprise and intrigue is something that the “Anhänger der Kunst” achieves. Although the art is in the everyday situation, in an (almost) everyday trailer and open to everyone, it’s also concealed. It’s not clear from far away what this curious trailer is and you have to get up close to see inside. Furthermore it’s unexpected. We expect to see street art and sculptures whereas a trailer in the middle of Potsdamer Platz…not so much! People’s attitudes towards the unexpected changes, this is funny to observe. They become almost apprehensive and unsure about how to approach it, but eventually curiosity gets the better of them and they gingerly approach with seeming caution. Whilst entertaining for me to see as I know how they are feeling, I was able to recognise that this attitude to the concealed also increases the intrigue.
 

anhaenger-der-kunst-erik-tannhaeuser
What’s this doing here?


What’s in the box?

On hearing about it, I loved the idea of the trailer and I was not disappointed by the contents either! The touring art trailer, white with black lettering, contains a sculpture by Erik Tannhäuser. The sculpture is of a man, skinny and slightly toppling over. His position is sad and his face downcast, maybe because he is doomed to spend his time locked in a trailer on his own all day! The dark colour he’s made of and the grey day give the piece a sombre feel and an air of suffering, or suffocating!


Walk it off

After heading to Marheinekeplatz, the location of the trailer as per the website, I was disappointed to find it not there. Cycling round and round the square, I thought I was being stupid or blind, but it just wasn’t there. Now it’s standing at Hafen Wannsee, a beautiful location by the lake Wannsee and near the Grunewald forest. So if left feeling sombre after the poignant art, you can walk off the mood or let the lake wash it away!

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