ende
Birgit Brinkmann
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites
Image title for Toboggans on building sites

Toboggans on building sites

Material: tubular steel, bent wood, varnish, kangaroo ball

Since 2018 I have been pursuing an art project that takes me to various construction sites in Frankfurt. The work series “Schlitten auf Baustellen” (Toboggans on building sites) looks at spaces in which radical changes are taking place. These pockets of land either lose their original character completely through conversions, or they assume entirely new features by being “yuppified”.

These architectural wastelands, in which transience and new beginnings exist side by side, are fascinating. Construction sites are sensually perceptible metaphors for history in rapid motion. In the transition from destruction to construction, empty space is temporarily created, a non-space that I aim to fill with my objects. My objective is to trace the history of the buildings being torn down and formulate expectations of the renewal, the replacement, the alternative provided by urban development, the promises. I capture the hopes connected to every new beginning.

The objects used to enrich the “projection space –construction site” are taboggans with runners controlled by bouncing balls. These inspire the spirit of adventure. They come in different shapes, colors and configurations. The work series comprises mini taboggans, double taboggans, couple taboggans and steering taboggans. Depending on the space in which they appear they conjure up social hierarchies, departure, rebelliousness and childlike fantasies of omnipotence, or remind adults who no longer dare to enter construction sites of their former thirst for adventure.

The construction site is a playing field, one on which the taboggans, as set pieces in an imaginary projection of an approaching future, take on an explorative life of their own.

The taboggans appear like seismographs of the demolition and move through the spaces opened up by erasure. They investigate the quality of lingering in bizarre landscapes with an actionism characterized by great enjoyment and explore the terrain in short-lived, performative actions.