Last but not least: Advertising and art, Berlin Alexanderplatz
«Art Instead of Advertising» was the name of the exhibition project at the U2 Alexanderplatz station in Berlin, an exploration of art and public space. Launched in 1958 as the result of a competition, it even outlived the fall of the Wall. It did not, however, survive the pressure to commercialize. An obituary.
In 1958, the commercial art section of the Association of Visual Artists in Germany (VBKD) called on all graphic artists in the GDR to design posters for peace. The reproductions were then exhibited under the title "Peace of the World" at Alexanderplatz subway station in Berlin, on the U2 line between East and West. This was the birth of an exhibition project that lasted almost 50 years and turned the U2-Alexanderplatz station into a permanent advertising-free, art-determined zone, in which a few hundred artists took part - including Pablo Picasso. After the fall of the Wall, the project was continued by a new artistic project group under the name "Art instead of advertising" - and sponsored by the city of Berlin. According to a report in the TAZ newspaper, the Berliners (probably the Ossis) clearly enjoyed not being grinned at by happily consuming beings who all seemed to come from another planet. Free space had been marked out here. Mr. Kuno from Vereinigte Verkehrs-Reklame probably had a more sober view. He probably felt that the 130,000 marks in rental income that had fallen victim to art was a painful sacrifice.
In 2007, the city of Berlin must have felt that this was a painful renunciation (as we all know, it is completely broke). It sold the advertising company responsible for Berlin's train stations to JCDecaux - and with it the control. The billboard company and the project group were subsequently unable to reach an agreement. In February 2008, the globally unique and internationally renowned exhibition project came to an end. In its obituary, the project group wrote that urban planning and politics around the world were now reacting to the precarious imbalance between advertising, architecture and public space. A city like Berlin, on the other hand, which is advertised as a cultural metropolis and has become a magnet for artists and art lovers, is losing a considerable asset here.
On the other hand, the new tenant of the advertising space at the U2-Alexanderplatz station has gained a very special asset. After all, not every poster company can claim to be able to rent out advertising space on a former Picasso. But there is also something dubious about having this reputation.
