++++ Culture Park or culturepark, written in the fashionable way in small case and as one word, reminds you somewhat of the recreational or theme parks at the periphery of large cities. Culture Park or culturepark also stands for the illuminated boxes which Andreas Fogarasi has suspended in the staircase at the Frankfurt Kunstverein to complement his ensemble composed of two rows of chairs and a television screen.
The location has been carefully chosen, both the Kunstverein and also the transitional space in the staircase, because the small exhibition house is situated at the interface of a Frankfurt culture park with the Schirn Kunsthalle, a high-profile municipal project of the eighties, the cathedral, the archaeological site, St Paul's Church and the Römer with its facades from the sixties which pretend that they are a genuine half-timbered construction. Here, buses full of Japanese tourists disgorge their occupants so that they can look around a bit at what the city attempts to communicate as its image.
From the staircase you have a perfect view outside in order to sense your own location within this complex. You can sit down on the seats by Charles and Ray Eames. This is also a form of culture Park since they are the model for many Modernist designs with which airports and conference rooms have been equipped since the sixties and a symbol for an exclusive lifestyle of the successful and connoisseurs of culture.
On the screen, which is suspended from the ceiling between the rows of seats, what has already been hinted at as a metaphor in the location, the illuminated boxes and the rows of chairs, is brought together visually: the waiting lounge of Frankfurt Airport, a conference room, the tie sculpture by Claes Oldenburg in the Mainzer Landstraße and the view from the staircase of the Kunstverein onto the underground station Römer and the Schirn Kunsthalle — all elements for the image transfer of a successful, economically secure and culturally committed Frankfurt.
What a shame that the images seem lifeless and that in Fogarasi's installation you feel as though you were sitting in a waiting room. The city's politicians should perhaps think about this sometime.
Frankfurter Kunstverein, until 25 August. jdv