park(ing) day in bremen

The Sprouts do parking! PARK(ing) day is an international event initiated by Rebar, where public parkings spots are "leased" from the city and transformed into parks. In Bremen a group from the Sproutcrew grabbed Sproutbau leftovers and squeezed it into a car.



We then parked the car Thursday night at Violenstraße, a side road to the big traffic point Domsheide. Our visitor from Denmark, Anders, blocked another parking spot with his graffiti painted (Hippie) Citroen.




PHOTO: PATRICIA LAMBERTUS

Next day we would get up early to feed the parking meter and build the park. The design followed the materials we had. The floor was covered with mulch and grass. Plants and vegetables made good decorations. We brought a parasol in case it would rain and a fancy lawn mower to use as the required vehicle.

Local TV station Buten & Binnen later decided to use this action for their daily weather forecast.


PHOTO: PATRICIA LAMBERTUS

Shunka was brave enough to say the prewritten text into the camera. She and Daniel were also interviewed by the crew of the Public Channel (Offener Kanal).



The event drew positive attention from pedestrians and bike folks. There were no complaints from people searching a parking spot. And there was no interferences from the police. Even the meter maids ignored us intentionally. All in all a friendly, peaceful event.



In the end we gave away plants to people walking by. We cleaned up the space and took home some vegetables. The birdhouse though remains to this very day on top of the traffic light.

the marnic roof

PHOTO: CATHRIN EISENSTEIN

burning down the house...

Taking out the installation.



Even the most attached guests are packing.



Janitor on duty. Where does all this garbage come from? And where is everyone else?



What doesn´t get recycled gets burned.
Some sobbing.

the goats have a new home

It was the deal from the beginning that after Sproutbau Heidi, Ingmar and Mordechai would move on to the Egestorff Stiftung, a home for the elderly, where they have a huge willow and many animals. They now share place with 7 other goats, sheep and bulls.



Ingmar is making new enemies. It looks like he feels at home.



They are all well and healthy - and very missed...

before & after

BEFORE

PHOTO: DANIEL SCHNIER

AFTER


&
BEFORE


AFTER


&
BEFORE

PHOTO: CATRHIN EISENSTEIN

AFTER

PHOTO: CATRHIN EISENSTEIN

walk through art

PHOTO: DANIEL SCHNIER

In Buffalo, New York, Linda Anderson has been painting on a huge walk through installation for the pillars of Sproutbau. She mailed the wrapped paintings in time: but it took a fierceful (and charming) Mia U. to claim them from custom, where they originally intended a delivery right after the Betonale. When we unwrapped the paintings they still carried the smell of fresh acrylics/oil.


PHOTO: DANIEL SCHNIER

It was an adventure to hang them. Linda had sent us instructions that were perfect: but what she couldn´t have taken into account was the heavy wind, the rain, the fresh graffiti. All forces that made it difficult to stick to the plan.


PHOTO: DANIEL SCHNIER

We then changed the settings and put the paintings up in an order we thought still gave them a vibrant look and where they wouldn´t be food for mean weather.


PHOTO: DANIEL SCHNIER

In the end it was a great success. People would curiously stop and examine the exterior gallery. We were afraid the paintings would get damaged but they were treated respectfully and with awe. Especially children liked to race through the art and cheered the look of the brightful colors.

white flat

A flat in all shades of white. An inhabitant who hardly ever talks. Where she comes from, nobody knows.



She starts cleaning, a thorough removal of all traces, strict and determined. Everything gets covered with a layer of paint – floor, table, books, pictures, walls – everything. Is this a way to get rid off memories? What you cannot see does not exist. She paints towards the state of purest white and innocence. A story about the attempt of forgetting.





White to the very last detail: She drinks milk, water, white wine. She eats pasta, rice, white bread, cream cheese, asparges. She wears a white skirt, white blouse, white socks and white shoes. (Only her lipstick is of a bright red.)





She doesn’t like people. Hardly ever she tries to socialize; usually she prefers to retire to the white silence of her flat.






Notes from her diary / reactions of guests

number 12 giggled
number 13 said cold piece of art
number 14 closed the door
then the door opened again by itself.
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number 24 asked questions.
number 25 left footsteps behind.
number 26 saw different colours of white.
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number 30 ate tictac
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the first guest of the evening became silent and said thank you
a young man sniffed at the lily
a tall blonde man marches by and says AHA
a man completely out of breath says he doesn’t have time and keeps on running
a girl in a hoodie says you look cool –
she doesn’t lift her feet when she walks.
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an old man carries along a spade.
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the returning guest eats unboiled rice and talks about growing old.


The White Flat is an inhabited installation by Frauke Materlik.