Birgit Schuh: Artistic conception

MENSAMMELSURIUM consists of 261 colorful concrete slabs that are mixed like pixels over around a hundred square meters and form a striking color carpet for the cafeteria’s outdoor seating area. This area extends to the floor-to-ceiling glazing of the cafeteria, so that the colorful reflection continues seamlessly and the design seems to grow into the interior.

The colors used – blue, green, red, light blue, ultramarine, yellow, brown, orange, beige-red, white and black – can be found – with variations in the color nuances – in the around 200 national flags of countries around the world. The rectangular color carpet takes up the shape of a flag, but also wants to invite further associations.

The color hodgepodge in the cafeteria area also makes you think of a colorful fruit plate or vegetable basket with fruit from all continents, for example. Last but not least, eating together is a cultural act. It connects students, creates exchange and togetherness, and requires openness and tolerance for different (eating) habits and (eating) cultures.

With the square pixels, classic flag designs such as stripes, bars or symbols are deliberately transformed into a “neutral form” that can form ever new color neighborhoods when placed next to each other. The size of the square colored areas can be integrated into the grid of the existing paving and takes up the rectangular basic structure of the architecture and outdoor space.

The restrained, homogeneous color design of the outdoor areas and buildings creates a calm environment for the explosion of color in front of the cafeteria, which can also be experienced from the interior thanks to the generous glazing. Mediating colors such as brown, beige-red, orange and yellow integrate the floor work into the surrounding architecture.

The carpet of color continues vertically on three flags: the flagpoles in front of the cafeteria’s outdoor seating area are also decorated with a hodgepodge of colors and are visible from far away outside the school grounds. The color focus on yellow, blue and red emphasizes the three primary colors from which all other colors can be mixed.

On May 22, 2024, as an artist, I had the opportunity to conduct a workshop with students in Mr. Gharib’s class 7b to introduce them to the art-in-building project and to discuss it with them.

After a brief presentation of the visualization of MENSAMMELSURIUM, we first collect which countries of origin are represented in the class and which colors are included in the corresponding national flags:
Red, white, blue / light blue, orange, black, gold (yellow), green
The first evaluation by the students shows:
“Our collection from the class already contains almost all the colors of the artistic design.” and
“All nationalities (at our school) can form a unit.”

How do the approximately 200 national flags of the world’s states differ?
We look at the color arrangement of flags and draw some structures schematically on the board as examples.
Whether horizontal stripes, vertical color bars, jagged surfaces, triangles, circles, symbols – all flags have one thing in common: they use simple shapes and a few colors, the arrangement of which is very memorable. They therefore have a high recognition and reproduction value.

Here we see the first big difference between the well-known flags and MENSAMMELSURIUM: the pixelated surface of the artistic design is very detailed and complex. It is subject to a grid, but also contains a certain amount of disorder. The square color plates can be lined up in any order. It is not possible to grasp the color arrangement or recognize a system at a glance. In a certain way, the artistic design thus refuses to do exactly what makes a flag.

Some in the class find this chaotic and inharmonious. They miss a symmetry in the chaos.
But ultimately it also becomes clear that it is precisely this chaos that means diversity and uniqueness. The observation is not exhausted with just one glance; new color neighborhoods can be discovered again and again and associations can be aroused. It is not a nation or a message that is represented, but diversity.

Another consideration now turns to the special place: the cafeteria patio.
Why is the artistic intervention placed here, what do the colors of MENSAMMELSURIUM have to do with food?
We draw on our collection of colors from the class community’s flags and look for suitable examples of corresponding foods: red/tomatoes+ketchup, white/eggs, blue/blueberries, orange/oranges, black/blackberries+black olives, gold+yellow/cheese+bananas+spätzle, green/beans.

We find colors, patterns and structures in many different ways in everyday (school) life, for example in clothing, furniture, bags and much more. Further references and associations to MENSAMMELSURIUM are therefore not only possible but also desired.

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