Walk of Ideas

Walk of Ideas ( German idea aisle or walk the ideas) was an artistic event series for the Football World Cup 2006, the " A walk through ideas from Germany " an art boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin trained under the motto. Between May and September 2006, six sculptures should represent the German inventiveness.

On the website " Germany - Land of Ideas" states: " The sculptures symbolize the inventiveness and ingenuity of composers and writers, scientists and researchers, engineers and inventors from Germany. " Line-up of artistic controversial works was carried out between 10 March and 19 May 2006 the reduction between 29 September and 4 October 2006.

• 3.1 Worldwide resonance
• 3.2 Product Advertising
• 3.3 The German Schubert and round bellies note

Background and general information

The " sculpture boulevard " was a key part of the initiative Germany - Land of Ideas, under the patronage of Federal President Horst Köhler as a common image and branding initiative of the German government and German industry, represented by the Federation of German Industry (BDI ) in at home and abroad is to portray a positive image of Germany.

The corporate design of the campaign as well as the design of the sculpture was conceived and implemented by the Berlin-based design agency Scholz & Friends Identify. The Agency has received several international awards for this campaign - for example the coveted EVA Award 2006.

The sculptures were on central squares of the city center of Berlin as the Bebelplatz or the Gendarmenmarkt. Among the revelations small celebrations took place, on which politicians, members of the initiative or representatives of the companies involved opening speeches were given. The first revelation was made on 10 March 2006 with the plastic, the modern football boot in Spreebogenpark, the finale was the transfer of the plastic theory of relativity on 19 May 2006 in the Lustgarten. In the fall of 2006, the figures were dismantled. A plastic, The Automobile, went traveling to Munich - the use or exploitation of the remaining works is unclear.

The total cost of the business plan was to realization per figure 300000-350000 Euros. The production of all sculptures took place from the modern plastic Neopor ® and their coating with a glistening white special polish. Your production time was about two months each, the final assembly on the courts took up to three days.

At each object on the footpath by the German research landscape and cultural history gave information boards in English and German in detail information about their symbolism.

Overview of all the sculptures:

• The modern football boot in Spreebogenpark ( unveiled on 10 March 2006)
• Milestones of medicine at the Friedrich -Ebert-Platz (27 March )
• The car at the Brandenburg Gate ( April 6th), late May implemented on the Schlossplatz, implemented in early June at the Federal Press and beach.
• Modern Book Printing at Bebelplatz (April 21 )
• Masterpieces of Music at the Gendarmenmarkt (May 5)
• The theory of relativity at the Lustgarten (May 19 )

About the artistic design of the objects are no accurate data. The initiative Germany - Land of Ideas remains very general in their statements. The Milestones of Medicine have then " young artists designed in consultation with Bayer AG " for example. The designs for the last three sculptures are by " young designers of the agency Scholz & Friends." There is an indication, the design came from Audi to the object, the automobile.

Six sculptures

The Modern Football Shoe

On 10 March 2006 revealed the initiators of the " sculptures boulevards " in Spreebogenpark against the new central train station, the first plastic. The modern football boot, which of the EDAG GmbH & Co. KGaA was built in Fulda, presented a pair of football boots, which goes back to a development of the Dassler Family.

In 1953, Adi Dassler made to a sports requisites technically revolutionary Schraubstollenschuh who possessed the first time with a removable stud system of plastic. The German national football team played in its World Cup victory in 1954 in Bern with these shoes that are not to have contributed marginally to success. This gave the former Interior Minister and member of the Advisory Board initiative Schily at the unveiling ceremony, the hope for the upcoming 2006 World Cup: "Maybe [ has ] yes adidas for this World Cup yet one secret weapon ' in store. "

Each shoe had a length of 14 meters, was 4.5 meters high and weighed around 20 tons. As it was in Berlin on March 10 for this unseasonably heavy snow, the Spreebogenpark snow and skiing paradise presented at the unveiling ceremony rather than than as green soccer meadow dar.

Milestones in Medicine

The grand opening for the plastic Milestones of Medicine was held on March 30, 2006 held at the Friedrich- Ebert-Platz to the east next to the Reichstag. She had the form of a tablet and stood with a diameter of ten meters conspicuous on the new promenade on the river Spree opposite the Marie- Elisabeth- Lüders-Haus with the Parliamentary Library. The anchoring of the 25 -ton sculpture was made under the pavement with a 4.20 × 4.20 × 1.00 m comprehensive steel foundation.

The monument symbolizing breakthrough drug discovery research, for example by Felix Hoffmann, Robert Koch, Emil Adolf von Behring, Paul Ehrlich and Gerhard Domagk. 1897, the pharmacist and chemist Felix Hoffmann, (short ASA) prepare a chemically pure and stable and acceptable form acetylsalicylic acid. Two years later the product arrived under the name Aspirin ® on the market today and is the active ingredient of many other painkillers. In 1950 Aspirin ® top-selling painkiller in the Guinness Book of Records.

The giant pill on the River Spree should also remind medical devices such as the X-ray machine or the cardiac catheterization, which, like dialysis, German developments. Last but not least identified the tablet as one of Germany still leading global pharmaceutical and medical device locations.

The automobile

The automobile has a length of 10.2 meters and a height of 3.25 meters and a width of 4.5 meters and a weight of ten tons. The sculpture consists of a steel skeleton construction with 16 shell segments, 1,000 square meters of glass fiber laminate and 120 cubic meters Neoporschaum. The design by Audi. More than 100 people were working on the object from the planning to the design and production. The unveiling ceremony on 6 April 2006 on the west side of the Brandenburg Gate came across a relatively large resonance. In addition to the Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit 600 guests and 100 photographers, TV crews and other journalists took part in the festival. End of May 2006, the sculpture was moved to the Palace Square to make the Fan Mile in front of the Brandenburg Gate Square.

A short time later she moved for a few days to Chapel - shore to receive the premiere guests opening the media at the Federal Press Club beach. After the plastic was seated in the Tiergarten near the Victory Column. On 25 August 2006, the car went on an international tour with the first station Munich Airport between terminals one and two. In Munich, it should remain until 19 September 2006. Since July 2009 The car is in Ingolstadt.

According to a press release of the image campaign " Germany - Land of Ideas" was the plastic on 18 November 2006, on the eve of the show " Auto China 2006", reveals Martin Winterkorn before the business center " Oriental Plaza" in Beijing. There was the car to visit about four weeks. Around 250 invited guests, including Chinese public figures from sport, culture and society, were present at the unveiling and watched the loud Press Release " spectacular show ". While sufficient for the trips to Berlin and Munich a "normal" heavy transport with a police escort, had for air travel to Beijing 's largest cargo plane - an Antonov An-124 - are chartered.

In the picture, which were annexed Audi AG 's press release, is to be seen on the stylized grille plastic logo of the vehicle manufacturer. As part of the Walk of Ideas in Berlin no logo was placed on the object. Nevertheless, the automobile can be seen as an Audi TT 8J, which premiered shortly thereafter.

The names of important car designers like August Horch, Carl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, Ferdinand Porsche, Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine should be connected to the plastic.

About the also German invention, the motorcycle, the object is to build a bridge up to an innovative transport the present, the magnetic path. 1984, the first experimental factory of the track-bound transport system to track network was held in Berlin, which was used between 1989 and 1991 in the passenger operation.

Modern Book Printing

The preparation of plastic Modern Book Printing was done on 21 April 2006 at Bebelplatz opposite the Humboldt University. The design of this 12.20-meter high object on Unter den Linden took three days. A steel frame holding shell segments 17 with different sizes, each segment was located as a single book. Including the stabilizing poising the tower weighed 35 tons.

The stacked 17 books on their backs name German poet and writer and rested on Goethe as lowermost book. They recalled Johannes Gutenberg, who invented the modern printing press around 1450 in Mainz and the Gutenberg Bible first "bestseller " of the story produced. Of the original 180 copies of the first edition exist on current knowledge, still 49 pieces.

Masterpieces of Music

The plastic masterpieces of music consisted of six individual notes, three-eighths and three- quarter notes. Each note was 8.10 meters high, 5.4 meters long and 2.1 meters wide and weighed - with " flags " - 8.6 tons. According to the Notice of the homepage " Land of Ideas" presented the notes " of static and geometric reasons, by far the most complicated construction of all six design objects, Walk of Ideas. '" Represents the assembly and erection of the items of note heads and stems took place on 5. May 2006 the Gendarmenmarkt with a crane.

The notes should be available for the music of Germany - for composers like Bach, Beethoven, Brahms or Wagner, for pioneers such as Stockhausen and for artists such as Anne- Sophie Mutter. The compositional works contains not only the seriousness of sacred music or portentous symphonic balancing a variety cheerful elements. Bach outlined for example in the Coffee Cantata humorous and ironic a scene from the civic life of Leipzig.

Relativity theory

The last sculpture, the most famous equation in physics; they do is one of the revolutionary work of Albert Einstein theory of relativity. In 1905 he founded with his work " On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies " special relativity theory, which revolutionized our understanding of space and time. In 1915 he published the general theory of relativity, in which the curvature of spacetime causes gravity.

Albert Einstein is now regarded by many as the epitome of the researcher and genius. He used his fame outside the scientific experts in its commitment to international understanding and peace. In this context, he considered himself a pacifist, socialist and Zionist.

The object consisted of three segments, weighed ten tons, was twelve feet long and four feet high. The ceremonial handover of the Berlin took place on the Museum Island in the Lustgarten on 19 May 2006.

Reception

Worldwide resonance

The international media took the initiative and attacked the motives of the "Walk of Ideas " on. CNN reported on 5 May 2006 in detail about the campaign approach. The conclusion of CNN reporter Chris Burns: ". For a Germany that a slump with high unemployment went through a long time, the World Cup and this campaign is a much-needed boost to the self confidence " had the British daily The Times already on April 15, 2006 the "Land of Ideas", commented: "The Germans are turning away from their traditional pessimism and be euphoric about their own country. Pop songs are met with national self-confidence. A new marketing campaign sold Germany as a land of ideas. The Berlin cityscape overflowing with shiny, metallic sculptures representing Germany's biggest inventions. Oversized of aspirin tablets to giant Adidas soccer shoes "

Product advertising

Some of the sculptures of the Walk of Ideas were recognizable Group Products and controversial in their artistic aesthetics. The Berliner Zeitung was annoyed with the title idea Seamless Land of Ideas on the plate product advertising.

The taz wrote on 21 April 2006 under the heading corporations make Berlin the fairground: " The Group's interest is hardly concealed. A few meters in front of the Brandenburg Gate is a car made ​​of plastic, which copies a current Audi model. In government district are studded shoes that adorn three stripes. A text panel praises the ingenuity of Adolf Dassler, the founder of Adidas. Behind the Reichstag itself makes an over-sized tablet with stililisiertem Bayer cross wide. The spokesperson for the initiative, Steffi Spicy, admits a very large similarity ' with the products a. Left Party leader Lederer is clear: The cityscape is degraded by a sculpture gallery of big business. '"

The German Schubert and round bellies note

In sculptures such as the printing press, the theory of relativity or the musical milestones in the production of the BASF material Neopor ® Group Advertising, apart from the constant references rather inconspicuous, attended a while malformed texts for confusion. Thus, the information board and the website to the object masterpieces of music told the Austrian Franz Schubert in a series of six composers mentioned to a German musician. The errors have been corrected, the designers.