Initial Situation
The first phase of a temporary installation was created as part of the run-up to the Urbane Interventions Cologne in 2020. It also includes an accompanying program consisting of choreography for the urban space and a choral piece whose theme is the processes of the city. This was both the starting point and the basis of the following work, which will be shown in the first iteration of the new exhibition format in 2021.
Location: Junction Ringe/Park/Bastei

The site chosen is at the northern end of the Cologne ring roads, directly on the banks of the Rhine; in conjunction with the Bastei, it forms the end of the park axis from the Ebertplatz. The T-shaped crossing is an interesting urban situation. A heavily trafficked artery and the banks of the Rhine, which run parallel to it, meet at a parklike surface that carves out a swath leading to the Ebertplatz in the inner city. It is a lively area used in many different ways by the city’s residents. The restaurant with a panoramic view was built in 1924 by the Cologne architect Wilhelm Riphahn and remodeled again in an expressionist style in 1927. The upper floor, made of lightweight steel, is set on top of an existing defensive structure, which Riphahn expanded in the direction of the street. On the opposite bank of the Rhine, the Pavilion of the German Glass Industry, designed by Bruno Taut, was constructed in 1914. This was one of the few examples of expressionist glass architecture, built for the Cologne Werkbund exhibition. The pavilion has lost none of its fascination as a conceptual starting point.

Concept
The City as Stage / Of Crystals, Sketches, and Settings
The concept for KRSTLUV is based on an exploration of urban planning issues and the specific situations at the site. The plan is for an architectural sculpture that will add to the urban space as well as alter it. The work can be considered a temporary sketch, a mock-up, a setting, and a visualization of a complex notion of space. It unites elements of very diverse origins: some of these individual components refer to utopian ideas of urban planning, archeological elements of past epochs and fragments of a potential future. Ideas about crystallization, as articulated in Bruno Taut’s Alpine architecture, are an example of this. The notions listed above are inscribed in the work, but it frees itself from them and becomes its own twenty-first-century reality. With the help of legible elements such as furniture pieces, however, it does not retain a purely abstract form but is instead linked to the scale of the city. An absurd image, far from the solution to all problems. It is emblematic, thanks to its architectural dimensions, and is strongly effective from a distance as well. From day to night, its appearance changes as the light does.
An addition will be made to the work in 2021, and it will be further developed.

Realization
A crystal, scanned in 3-D and digitally processed, is the basic form. The piece will mainly be constructed out of wood.