Aluminium-Wandfries / Aluminum Frieze

The newly constructed u-bahn station was furnished with a frieze by Austrian artist Heimo Zobernig. Assembled out of aluminum panels, the work can be found on the wall above the tracks, where it is visible from the platform. The varied, overlapping lettering on the panels translates as: WALLINSTALLATIONNORTHSOUTHURBANRAIL-COLOGNESTATIONCITYHALLSOUTHBOUND”
Executed as a relief and dissolved into positive and negative geometric forms, the text is not easily legible and becomes a puzzle for passengers to solve while waiting on the platform. The content, which is a straightforward description of his task, confirms Zobernig’s “sober, non-transcendental worldview.” Zobernig sees art as a system of communication that deals with the relationships between people and the things around them. Accordingly, he has furnished several communication spaces with works that are formal and withdrawn in terms of content.