Folke Köbberling
"Stilllegung"

Folke Köbberling
"Stilllegung"

Video, 5min loop
2014
DVD in wooden case
Edition: 25 copies

90,- €

"Application for the closure of the Steinweg between Ottoneum and Cine Star (along Friedrichsplatz) with the alternative of a detour through the parking garage.

At approx. 340 x 112 meters, Friedrichsplatz in Kassel is one of the largest inner-city squares in Germany. Originally planned by du Ry like a “balcony” that opens up to the floodplain landscape, it is one of the few European places that could still offer this quality today. Unfortunately, the traffic planning of the 1950s caused the newly created street layout of Steinweg to cut Friedrichsplatz for the car-friendly city. Since then it has separated the southeastern third of the square from a traffic and visual point of view.

On one side are the Fridericianum and the main shopping street, on the other side the State Theater built in 1959, the documenta hall with a view and access to the Karlsaue. To cross the four-lane, heavily used Steinweg, you have to wait at traffic lights.
Friedrichsplatz is drafty and hardly invites you to linger, as the traffic flow on the Steinweg is clearly visible and, above all, audible.

In the course of the 1990s, an underground garage was built in two construction phases under the entire area of ​​Friedrichsplatz. In the course of these construction measures, a tunnel could have been built that would shift all traffic underground. An untrimmed green area with a high quality of stay would have been created on the surface. This possibility was discussed in the city and ultimately rejected."

Text: Folke Köbberling