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Stony Messages
- a communal canvas: Words and patterns of rocks set in the sand by various citizens of and visitors to Hamburg, on a yet to be built upon empty lot in the HafenCity, itself presently under construction, an area immediately beneath the elevated "ViewPoint" platform at Strandkai.
As well as the obvious "signings", where people have simply written their own name, there are messages of love, symbols and depictions of Hamburg icons. All contributions are lovingly assembled from individual stones, each laid end to end in the sand. It is quite hard work and takes a lot of effort to produce something recognisable from a distance. All are personal expressions, left behind by the many hands of unnamed individuals. The net effect is a constantly evolving community arts project.
We were so impressed by what emerges when creativity is allowed to spontaneously transform an open space this way - and visitors take it upon themselves to leave their mark upon it: we called it people's art (in German "Volkskunst") in the HafenCity.
We have followed the development of the site and photographically documented it for over a year now. In March 2006 it was covered by a deep layer of snow, but this itself provided inspiration for some to tread out messages in the snow itself.
In fact the site provided our original inspiration to launch the Volkskunst-Hafencity website. Periodically most of the stones are cleared away by an army of diggers and dump trucks. Disappointed? No, we're philosophical, there's always renewed activity on the site.
We have seen how stones are removed and reused, creating continuous change. It is a mutable and ever changing canvas and quite unlike any form of graffiti ever known before.
If any readers are interested in photos in higher resolution - most of those published are available - you just have to ask.
Alan Frostick
www.volkskunst-hafencity.de
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View Point Panorama
Photos taken June 24, 2007
Photos taken March 25, 2007
Photos taken December 31, 2006
Photos taken December 10, 2006
Photos taken October 22, 2006
Photos taken October 2, 2006
Photos taken September 15, 2006
Photos taken August 31, 2006
Photos taken April 16, 2006
Photos taken March 12, 2006
Photos taken February 12, 2006
Photos taken January 22, 2006
Photos taken December 24, 2005
Photos taken November 13, 2005
Photos taken November 10, 2005
Photos taken November 6, 2005
Photos taken October 30, 2005
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