Hochkultur

Hochkultur

The installation by Michael Annoff and Nuray Demir in front of the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn deals with aspects of cultural diversity. We conceived the graphic design of the pillars in close collaboration with the artists.

When Gustav Peichl designed the architecture of the Bundeskunsthalle in 1986, eleven steel columns were originally intended to represent “the federal states and the cultural diversity of the Federal Republic” as art in the building. Shortly after construction began, the Wall fell – and five more columns were added for the East German federal states. Following on from Peichl’s idea, Michael Annoff and Nuray Demir are temporarily replaying these pillars as part of “Who We Are” in order to negotiate the aspect of cultural diversity instead of the federal states.

On the pillars, they create a speculative historiography of the Bundeskunsthalle and the Federal Republic of Germany. We developed the graphic design of the columns in close collaboration with Michael Annoff and Nuray Demir. We drew on aesthetics, techniques and typographies of political communication from past decades.

Photography: ©Simon Vogel/ Bundeskunsthalle