Insurgentes Sur
2021 · silicone paint, gold leaf
Rooftop Terrace
permanent
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| Admission free |
| No language skills required |
| Accessible for wheelchairs |
To the east, an abstract, golden city panorama blends into, and artistically extends, the Berlin cityscape. It references the silhouette of Mexico City, one of Berlin’s partner cities. The title, Insurgentes Sur, refers to the southern part of the longest main street in the Mexican capital, the Avenida de los Insurgentes – the Avenue of the Insurgents.
The work has numerous resonances, for example, with Alexander von Humboldt’s expeditions: during his third expedition, in 1803, he spent nine months in Mexico City. The historical and global contexts that the artwork invokes draw attention to the collections of the Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnological Museum) in the Humboldt Forum, and to the question of the origin and history of their objects. The gold used in the artwork should not be interpreted as decoration. Together with the copper used on the roof of the Humboldt Forum, it references historical and contemporary global relationships and their dependencies and power relations.
“The gold is a reference to the copper in the Palace dome, because gold is a by-product of copper extraction. Gold was also the incentive for many of the conquests in South America, as it is one of the most valuable raw materials on earth. The work also elegantly references the objects exhibited in the Humboldt Forum. Furthermore, the tradition of the Mexican mural is reflected in both a restrained and sophisticated contemporary manner. The work is striking for its graphic simplicity, and the use of gold to create the outline lends it a particular excitement and lightness.”
BBR-WB Art in Architecture, Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, artwork location: Rooftop Terrace engine house wall, extract from the written assessment of the prize committee, 19 May 2020.