Geist (Ghost) - 2010
Temporary work on an advertising billboard at the main train station in Ahlen
Contribution to the “Blickwechsel” exhibition / Gütersloh
Something’s cooking in Ahlen. Since the 1950s, the blue enamel saucepan, which is actually made of concrete, has stood on the roof of the Nahrath factory for kitchen- and tableware. At its prominent location next to the railway line, the saucepan is the sign by which residents and those passing through recognize Ahlen, as well as bearing witness to the once important enamel industry in the town and surrounding region.
Since 1991, the factory has been closed. In 2004, the daughter of its owner, artist Susanne Nahrath, made two posters with a view of the factory and the collaged words “Wer kocht $ – kocht wer $‘ (Who’s cooking $ – Is anyone cooking $), pointing out that the factory’s future is far from rosy. Now the building is threatened with demolition to make way for a shopping mall. On a billboard that already indicates this fate, a ghost now makes its presence felt. The photograph on which the poster is based was taken from the platform at Ahlen station, just a few metres from the billboard. In addition to this spatial shift, there is also a shift in meaning as the motif is transferred to a poster, raising the question as to whether this is promotion for the town’s symbolic landmark, or for the future of a place whose content will be defined by commercial advertising.
At this transitional location, the poster can become a screen for reflection and opinion-forming about the treatment of regional history and tradition, about reuse or demolition of industrial architecture, and about the significance of specific features in a region going through changes. In addition, the finished work is also a design, as the initial idea was to actually to make the Ahlen pot boil, as a living landmark, but the factory owner were not interested.
Is a tradition going up in smoke here? Or are these smoke signals announcing its return? Or is there something new cooking? What that something might be, who chooses the ingredients, and what it tastes like remain to be seen.
Bernd Apke
The smoking saucepan on the billboard.
In the distance, to the right of the poster, stands the Nahrath factory building with the blue saucepan.
The poster on the advertising billboard at Ahlen station.
