Schadowstraße Metro Station - Ursula Damm "Turnstile"
Architecture as a stage for digital art
We move through the arcades of Schadowstraße in a stream of people. Along countless stores, we cross the intersecting tram tracks directly behind the Peek&Cloppenburg building and walk towards a wide opening in the pavement. Via a staircase consisting of 3 escalators and a fixed staircase, we are led into a light-flooded interspace. Royal blue glass tiles accompany us on our way to the next level, interrupted by vertical white stripes on whose surface patterns of geometric shapes are reflected. If we take a closer look at the patterns, we can make out fragments of an aerial photograph superimposed by the intersecting lines and shapes. Once in the station room, we look at a projection surface measuring approx. 8 x 4.5 meters, which is located on the front side above the tunnel. A constantly changing image of vectors, circles and polygons spreads out and covers the other areas. Again and again, dark shadows move through the image and then it becomes clear: the background part of the image is a shot of the square on the surface where people move through the city. But how do the images relate to the overlapping graphic patterns? The aerial fragments on a white background give us a clue.
The subway station visualized as a hub
With the English title “Turnstile”, Ursula Damm classifies the location and orientation of the station body in the urban space. As an addition to an existing junction, the east-west connection of the Wehrhahn line increases the frequency of the flow of people and thus accentuates the importance of the Kö-Bogen/Schadowstraße area. The core of the artistic concept developed by Ursula Damm is the analysis of flows of people, traffic axes and movements and their integration into the urban architecture. Axes of movement become intersecting vectors, which in turn enclose surfaces that can be related to each other. An abstract cluster of polygons reveals energy centers and allows conclusions to be drawn about urban development. If the cluster is projected onto an aerial image, the abstract analysis is linked back and gives the identified centers a reference.
Humans at the center of urban space
Through Ursula Damm's artistic intervention, the Schadowstraße subway station raises the question of the role of the individual human being in urban space and answers it in the moment of his existence. Passengers are confronted with an illustration of a highly complex computer program that they cannot fully understand. By observing the installation, however, they recognize the human involvement within the construct and see themselves as part of the installation. As a result of the holistic design of the station space, architecture and art combine and become one.
Making an invisible concept visible
The special aspect of the artistic installation in the Schadowstraße subway station is that the underlying concept is obvious, but not understandable at first glance. Admittedly: Ursula Damm's work also works without more precise knowledge of the underlying idea. However, as it is a video installation, it is difficult to capture photographically. From the perspective of an architectural photographer, I have therefore concentrated more on the architecture of the station space. When choosing the lines of sight, however, I made sure to include the visible graphic elements on the interior wall lining. It was equally important to display the large screen with the video installation and to allow a view of its depicted content. This allows the viewer to get an idea of the content of the installation. Further images can be found on the project page “U-Bahnhof Schadowstraße”.
