n Artists Impression: Larissa Fassler on Berlins

ottbusser Tor
Minkjan

t Larissa Fassler says that despite of an

rd architecture, Kottbusser Tor is a
ng and energetic place.

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Myths of Modernism

1 November 2012

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Kotti, 2008, by Larissa Fassler

While doing preliminary research on Berlins Neues Kreuzberger Zentrum, we came

accross the amazing artworks of Larissa Fassler, a Canadian artist living in Berlin. Her
works are inspired by everyday life in cities, and focus on perceptions, patterns and
human behaviour within the built environment. She uses traditional architectural
instruments such as drawings, models and maps, but adds anthropologic layers and
personal impressions to them. The results are fascinating cityscapes that combine the
hardware and software of a city: a mapped aggregation of the actions and perceptions
of the users within the architecture they inhabit. She also worked on Kottbusser Tor
and the Neues Kreuzberger Zentrum, which has been subject to our 5-day workshop in

Berlin.

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Kotti, 2008, by Larissa Fassler

Kotti is one of her works, consisting of a scaled model and drawings. The scaled
model is a representation of the publicly accessible spaces of the NKZ and its
surrounding area. The cartography drawings include a wide variety of information, from
the number of people crossing and the places were people urinate to the current
weather and the locations of the food stalls. It seems to be a combination of mind
mapping, community mapping, and ethnographic research.

Kotti Revisited, 2010, by Larissa Fassler

We wanted to know more about Larissas inspirations, impressions and ideas regarding
Kottbusser Tor and the Neues Kreuzberger Zentrum, and she has been so kind to
answer some questions.
MM: You have made artworks of other places before working on Kottbusser Tor. What
triggered you about Kotti that made you want to get into it and make artpieces on it?

LF: Before beginning work on my sculpture and subsequent drawings of Kotti, I had
done two other pieces focusing on urban architecture. The first Hallesches Tor and the
second Alexanderplatz are both works that are based on underground sites. At that
time I was interested in looking at the subterranean spaces of cities that contain public
life. In 2004 I moved to Keuzberg not far from Kottbusser Tor and Kotti became a
place that I used and passed through daily over a period of years. This over-scaled,
monolithic concrete structure, an amphitheatre-like space, held such a clash of
people punks, dogs, addicts, tourists, street-drinkers, commuters, shoppers, Turkish
business owners, charity-workers, beggars, buskers, families and artists. It was a place
of noise and chaos, of forced-tolerance, of misunderstanding and clashes all pressed
together in an array of derelict passageways, plazas, stairwells, tunnels, platforms and
aboveground walkways.
Rather than constructing a model based on the positive masses of the buildings, I
wanted to built and define the public space the negative volumes in the tunnels and
between faades, following the surfaces of sidewalks and plazas, and leaving the rest as
empty voids. By creating an inversion of the classic planning model I wanted to make
visible the in-between, uncertain and transient spaces that delineate public life.

MM: What do you like about Kotti, and what do you like less?
LF: I like the complexity of the place socially and historically; its liveliness and chaos;
the mix of shops, cafes and housing; its atmosphere it is a place for anyone, for
everyone.
What I like less is the traffic and the traffic circle. Moreover, some of the back
passageways, especially on the north-east side, behind the shops and below the first
balconies. It can feel quite dangerous there and one can find oneself suddenly alone
and not visible to people on the street or to the inhabitants above. Also, I dont like the
fact that the rents are going up and low-income residents are being forces out.
MM: Did your impression of Kotti change after working on it?
LF: I came to respect it more as I learned about its history, mostly from the Keuzberg
museum and archive (Bezirksamt Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg) which is based just behind
the NKZ.
During the time I lived nearby (2004-2008) the shops in the NKZ kept failing a flower
shop for example couldnt survive. Commuters wouldnt stop at Kotti to shop and the
residents couldnt afford the goods of the shops moving in. Today shops especially
cafes and lunch places seem to be doing good business but I believe this has to do with

the fact the the area is gentrifying and many people now using Kotti have more money.
MM: Do you think anything should change about Kotti or the NKZ?
LF: I worry that the rents are going up. The area is becoming popular, cool, even hip
and the people who have been living there for decades are being moved out. I think
low-income residents must be better subsidized and/or rents better controlled to allow
people to stay.
I think as well some sections of the NKZ could be redesigned to be safer, lighter, more
accessible and to increase visibility more eyes-on-the street.
MM: In what ways do you think Kotti/NKZ has failed? And in what ways do you
consider it a success?
LF: Even within an absurd architecture that blocks light, shuts off streets and sight
lines, is too high, too narrow and creates dark passageways and blind corner, there is a
lot of life and energy and many different communities. I dont think Kotti has failed. It is
definitely not pretty but I believe it succeeds it being a thriving, changing and
energetic place.

Mark Minkjan is an urban and architectural geographer. He is Editor in Chief at Failed

Architecture.

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Artists Impression: Larissa Fassler on Berlins Kottbusser Tor

Minkjan

t Larissa Fassler says that despite of an

rd architecture, Kottbusser Tor is a
ng and energetic place.

Themes

Date

Share this article

Myths of Modernism

1 November 2012

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Content

Location

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Berlin, Germany

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the discussion:

Vincent Kompier Kroegpraat

13 / 01 / 2014 13:39

[] denken aan het Neue Kreuzberger

Zentrum. Het gebouw waarin de Olfe is te
vinden en volgens velen ht toonbeeld
van mislukte stedenbouw. Waarvan de

Schuld und Schnheit in Beton: BLO

this home was once a house in der
Vierten Welt | Unruhe im Oberrang |
Theaterkritik Berlin
31 / 05 / 2014 18:21

[] jedoch etwas von einer Trutzburg

il address

d (your email will not be shared)

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vuige betonnen gevels ook volhangen met

satellietschotels. In de Olfe hebben de []

so Schuldbeladenen: Wo man einen

offen als failed architecture verlore
gibt und seine Beseitigung auch scho
manches Mal zur Disposition gestellt
[]