The pool

The building of Frankfurt’s Ostbahnhof station was appropriated in a special way by the Leipzig artist Bertram Haude, who realised a work entitled “Das Bad”. The cubic building of the Ostbahnhof was visually and acoustically transformed into an outdoor swimming pool. For this purpose, access ladders and lifebuoys were installed on the roof and the box-like architecture of the station building was reinterpreted - a play with negative and positive volumes. Acoustic impressions were also added: Loudspeakers broadcast the soundscape of a busy swimming pool, which changes, rises and falls within 24 hours. The temporary smell of chlorine intensified the acoustic and visual effects. The viewer was confronted with perceptions and observations that seemingly had nothing to do with this place and created irritations by playing with their knowledge of the function of places, sensory organs and memory.

Catalogue text for the temporary art project F/Oby CHRISTIAN KAUFMANN, Kunstraum “auswärts”

The work was created at the invitation of auswärts kunstraum Frankfurt. The art project F/O was curated by Christian Kaufman and Sonja Müller.