Eyes for Art- The New Städel

It is probably the prestige project par excellence for the Frankfurt cultural scene and one of the most expensive and elaborate undertakings that has been carried out on Frankfurt's Museumsufer in recent decades: the extension of the Städel. A hall located under the lawn, in which space has been created for contemporary art on an area of around 3000 square metres. Light from the garden enters the interior of the extension through 195 portholes, thus bathing the works of art exhibited here in a primarily natural light. Together with the conversion and renovation of the old building, the "new Städel" has swallowed up around 52 million euros. Half of this was privately financed, the other half with public funds. Naturally, the interest in the opening of the extension in February 2012 was correspondingly great. On the first weekend, when the doors of the Städel were open free of charge, more than 18,000 people wanted to get a first impression of the new building and put up with long waiting times.

As much as the finished hall under the museum's garden is worth seeing, its genesis, which lasted from autumn 2009 until spring 2012, is also interesting. The photographer Helen Schiffer accompanied the mammoth undertaking for over two years on behalf of the architects schneider+schumacher and documented it in the illustrated book "Augen für die Kunst - Das neue Städel". However, the images are much more than a mere inventory of the respective work processes. Schiffer directs her attention to very special details or presents photographs from unusual angles that turn some of her pictures into small works of art themselves. At the same time, the photos illustrate the finesse with which the interplay between the architecture of the new hall and the artworks that will be exhibited in it in the future has been worked out.

Whether it is more the technical aspects, such as the meshwork of the underfloor heating or various cable highways, or snapshots of the work, where, for example, one can observe how earth is blown via hoses onto the later outer skin of the extension, the reader is brought closer to the most diverse aspects of the work in an unusual as well as fascinating and occasionally also very amusing way. One example of this is certainly the very special Christmas tree, which was erected in 2010 in the Städel in the spirit of the extension.

It is very nice that after six short introductory texts, the photographs first stand on their own and are not even explained by captions. The viewer can thus first of all let them have an effect on him completely undistracted. They are only brought into a more precise context in a construction diary that concludes the book. Here it is not only explained what can be seen in the individual photos, but also in which phase of the construction phase they were taken.

"Eyes for Art - The New Städel" is a very beautiful illustrated book that functions both as a contemporary document about this very important building for Frankfurt, but at the same time is also a good example of how the creation of a hall for art can be presented through art. Therefore, the book can be warmly recommended not only to all who are interested in the new Städel and the construction work, but also to all lovers of photography!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp