An Artists Impression: Larissa Fassler on BerlinsKottbusser Tor

Mark Minkjan

Artist Larissa Fassler says that despite of anabsurd architecture, Kottbusser Tor is athriving and energetic place.

Themes

Myths of Modernism

Content

Interview

Date

1 November 2012

Location

Berlin, Germany

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Kotti, 2008, by Larissa Fassler

While doing preliminary research on Berlins Neues Kreuzberger Zentrum, we came

accross the amazing artworks of Larissa Fassler, a Canadian artist living in Berlin. Her

works are inspired by everyday life in cities, and focus on perceptions, patterns and

human behaviour within the built environment. She uses traditional architectural

instruments such as drawings, models and maps, but adds anthropologic layers and

personal impressions to them. The results are fascinating cityscapes that combine the

hardware and software of a city: a mapped aggregation of the actions and perceptions

of the users within the architecture they inhabit. She also worked on Kottbusser Tor

and the Neues Kreuzberger Zentrum, which has been subject to our 5-day workshop in

Berlin.

Kotti, 2008, by Larissa Fassler

Kotti is one of her works, consisting of a scaled model and drawings. The scaled

model is a representation of the publicly accessible spaces of the NKZ and its

surrounding area. The cartography drawings include a wide variety of information, from

the number of people crossing and the places were people urinate to the current

weather and the locations of the food stalls. It seems to be a combination of mind

mapping, community mapping, and ethnographic research.

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Kotti Revisited, 2010, by Larissa Fassler

We wanted to know more about Larissas inspirations, impressions and ideas regarding

Kottbusser Tor and the Neues Kreuzberger Zentrum, and she has been so kind to

answer some questions.

MM: You have made artworks of other places before working on Kottbusser Tor. What

triggered you about Kotti that made you want to get into it and make artpieces on it?

LF: Before beginning work on my sculpture and subsequent drawings of Kotti, I had

done two other pieces focusing on urban architecture. The first Hallesches Tor and the

second Alexanderplatz are both works that are based on underground sites. At that

time I was interested in looking at the subterranean spaces of cities that contain public

life. In 2004 I moved to Keuzberg not far from Kottbusser Tor and Kotti became a

place that I used and passed through daily over a period of years. This over-scaled,

monolithic concrete structure, an amphitheatre-like space, held such a clash of

people punks, dogs, addicts, tourists, street-drinkers, commuters, shoppers, Turkishbusiness owners, charity-workers, beggars, buskers, families and artists. It was a place

of noise and chaos, of forced-tolerance, of misunderstanding and clashes all pressed

together in an array of derelict passageways, plazas, stairwells, tunnels, platforms and

aboveground walkways.

Rather than constructing a model based on the positive masses of the buildings, I

wanted to built and define the public space the negative volumes in the tunnels and

between faades, following the surfaces of sidewalks and plazas, and leaving the rest as

empty voids. By creating an inversion of the classic planning model I wanted to make

visible the in-between, uncertain and transient spaces that delineate public life.

MM: What do you like about Kotti, and what do you like less?

LF: I like the complexity of the place socially and historically; its liveliness and chaos;

the mix of shops, cafes and housing; its atmosphere it is a place for anyone, for

everyone.

What I like less is the traffic and the traffic circle. Moreover, some of the back

passageways, especially on the north-east side, behind the shops and below the first

balconies. It can feel quite dangerous there and one can find oneself suddenly alone

and not visible to people on the street or to the inhabitants above. Also, I dont like the

fact that the rents are going up and low-income residents are being forces out.

MM: Did your impression of Kotti change after working on it?

LF: I came to respect it more as I learned about its history, mostly from the Keuzberg

museum and archive (Bezirksamt Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg) which is based just behind

the NKZ.

During the time I lived nearby (2004-2008) the shops in the NKZ kept failing a flower

shop for example couldnt survive. Commuters wouldnt stop at Kotti to shop and the

residents couldnt afford the goods of the shops moving in. Today shops especially

cafes and lunch places seem to be doing good business but I believe this has to do with

the fact the the area is gentrifying and many people now using Kotti have more money.

MM: Do you think anything should change about Kotti or the NKZ?

LF: I worry that the rents are going up. The area is becoming popular, cool, even hip

and the people who have been living there for decades are being moved out. I think

low-income residents must be better subsidized and/or rents better controlled to allow

people to stay.

I think as well some sections of the NKZ could be redesigned to be safer, lighter, more

accessible and to increase visibility more eyes-on-the street.

MM: In what ways do you think Kotti/NKZ has failed? And in what ways do you

consider it a success?

LF: Even within an absurd architecture that blocks light, shuts off streets and sight

lines, is too high, too narrow and creates dark passageways and blind corner, there is a

lot of life and energy and many different communities. I dont think Kotti has failed. It is

definitely not pretty but I believe it succeeds it being a thriving, changing and

energetic place.

Mark Minkjan is an urban and architectural geographer. He is Editor in Chief at Failed

Architecture. Follow Follow @markminkjan@markminkjan 1,359 followers

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An Artists Impression: Larissa Fassler on Berlins Kottbusser Tor

Mark Minkjan

Artist Larissa Fassler says that despite of anabsurd architecture, Kottbusser Tor is athriving and energetic place.

Themes

Myths of Modernism

Content

Interview

Date

1 November 2012

Location

Berlin, Germany

Share this article

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2 comments on this article

Join the discussion Vincent Kompier Kroegpraat13 / 01 / 2014 13:39

[] denken aan het Neue KreuzbergerZentrum. Het gebouw waarin de Olfe is tevinden en volgens velen ht toonbeeldvan mislukte stedenbouw. Waarvan de

Schuld und Schnheit in Beton: BLOCK:this home was once a house in derVierten Welt | Unruhe im Oberrang |Theaterkritik Berlin31 / 05 / 2014 18:21

[] jedoch etwas von einer Trutzburg der

Join the discussion:

vuige betonnen gevels ook volhangen metsatellietschotels. In de Olfe hebben de []

so Schuldbeladenen: Wo man einen Ortoffen als failed architecture verlorengibt und seine Beseitigung auch schonmanches Mal zur Disposition gestellt hat,[]

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