Der Müll, ( ) und der Tod

by

Dennis Adams

Garbage, (  ) and Death is an installation conceived specifically for Frankfurt. The title of Fassbinder’s alleged anti-Semitic play is evoked not out of a position of judgement, but rather as a site of eruption and debate - a frame at the limit of German history. (The City) has been displaced, marking the fragility of the situational link and the potential ground for intervention.

    Introduced during the Reconstruction, the prefabricated industrial container has become the exemplary architecture of history. Since the Reunification, these simple rectangular modules of various sizes have proliferated at an accelerated pace throughout the cities of Germany - mapping their transitory sites and contested territories. They operate as open signs, architectural currency that mediates an exchange of functions: trash receptacles, storage facilities, temporary offices, information distribution centers, official immigration housing, squatters quarters, etc. - and the exhibition space at the Portikus.

    The body of the installation consists of two industrial containers that are constructed in the exact proportions of the interior of the Portikus. Each one is scaled to 1/27th the cubic volume of the space and placed end to end along its central axis. The container toward the entrance is open on its frontside and displays a translucent photographic image of a stadium in ruins on its back interior wall. The second container is open on the top and supports a fluorescent lighting system on its outside front wall that back-illuminates the translucent photographic image inside the first container.

    A third structure that doubles as a transaction window and vanity is displaced from the central axis of the installation. Notched into the backside of the second container, it faces the left rear corner of the exhibition space. This furnishing represents a “place of doubt” outside the rational plan of the installation - a free zone of exchange and disguise.

Dennis Adams           

Text from:

Portikus

Catalogue 49

Dennis Adams

Der Müll, (  ) und der Tod

Portikus Frankfurt am Main, 1993

To see a slideshow click on one of the pictures.