Untitled
2020 · acrylic
Stair Hall above Portal 5, 2nd and 3rd floor
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| Admission free |
| No language skills required |
| Accessible for wheelchairs |
| Opening hours Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun: 10:30 am – 6:30 pm Tue: closed Exceptions 24/12/24: closed 25/12/24: 12:00 pm – 06:00 pm 26/12/24: 12:00 pm – 06:00 pm 31/12/24: 10:30 am – 04:30 pm 01/01/25: 12:00 pm – 06:00 pm |
A large iridescent grid in various orange shades covers the stair hallabove Portal 5. It appears to tower into the space in three dimensions. The wall is completely flat – this is in fact a large-scale mural.
The sculptural painted grid triggers another association: together with the characteristic range of colours, the picture reflects the structure of the façade of the Palace of the Republic, which is fixed firmly in the memory of many people. The Humboldt Forum’s predecessor appears here in subtle painterly form. The Palace stood on this site from 1976 until it was closed in 1990, before being demolished between 2006 and 2008. In evening lighting, Trantenroth’s painting is also visible through the big window from outside in the Schlüter Courtyard. This creates an impressive spectacle of the vanished Palace of the Republic sitting side by side with the reconstructed façades of the likewise destroyed Palace.
“Shimmering between the grid structure and the overdrawn perspective, the work sounds out the possibilities of mural painting and poses the question of transparency and its illusion. The work generously spans the entire portal wall. It is, however, not importunate, but rather creates an interesting far-and-near effect. Painted surfaces and empty spaces weave the motif into the entire wall surface and produce an exciting spatial effect.”
BBR-WB Art in Architecture, Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, stair hall above Portal 5 – extract from the written assessment of the prize committee, dated 12 December 2017.