ANDREAS HOPFGARTEN

Eine Säule aus Salz

Installationsansicht/ Installation shot

EINE SÄULE AUS SALZ (2018)

A PILLAR OF SALT (2018)

90% of a human's life is spent surrounded by built spaces and is constantly confronted with architecture, consciously or unconsciously. Built space is thus decisively involved in shaping human identity and maintaining it. People are shaped and changed by space.

One might even assume a form of non-verbal communication to which humans are exposed on a daily basis. In most cases it is very difficult to unambiguously decipher them, even when they are actively perceived. What usually remains is a rather dull feeling – perhaps a kind of animation that one seems to suspect in urban fabirc.

"First we can form the cities, but then the cities form us. " This is how the Danish architect Jan Gehl puts it. Whereby "we" in this case most probably is supposed to be a rather broad "we" and thus means humankind in general. However, it is not humans who form, but humans who are formed – by buildings that others have formed.

In addition, this moulding can be influenced by historical events. This happened with the bombing of Hamburg in 1943. The city was extensively destroyed in the course of the "Operation Gomorrha" carried out by the Allies – about 40,000 people died in the attacks. Slightly more than half of all apartments in Hamburg had been destroyed during the attacks. The urban fabric was decisively shaped by the bombing and this event still seems to be visible and sensible today.