Artistic façade work by Campus members for the new location of the "neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK)"

The art association "neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK)" has moved into a new location on Berlin's Alexanderplatz. The premises in a sprawling GDR complex on Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse were last used by a fast-food chain and were redesigned by the architectural firm Hütten & Paläste (Berlin).

For the new location, artist Folke Köbberling has developed a two-part facade work, resulting from an invited artistic competition. It consists of an advertising band attached to the exterior surface and an interior curtain.

"HEXAGON", a curtain woven from aluminium-colored beverage carton, was created in collaboration with the artist Alexa Kreissl, who is also currently working on her dissertation on ring structures, and the Institute for Architecture-Related Art in Braunschweig. It occupies the window area on the first floor and uses a modular weaving technique of closed loops to recycle used composite cardboard into a new structure.

Four four-part geometric objects made of raw wool layered in wooden frames are mounted on the exterior façade. The shape of the " living elements", is based on the logo of the nGbK, but also makes references to other logos and lettering on the facade.

Both elements are linked by a reuse of materials for which sustainable recycling has so far been found only to a limited extent: raw wool and used beverage carton. They counteract the "hard" materials of the surroundings and take up design elements of GDR modernism. At the same time, they draw attention to the possibilities of (re)using buildings in times of climate change and ecological crises: The woolen façade objects, for example, also offer birds a nesting place.