Zelle Asphaltkultur
are a German and international clandestine cooperative, active in unauthorized
public painting. Known for their, to some, irritatingly irresponsible, play with the sometimes half-
empty, sometimes undeservingly loaded signifiers they collect from the dustbins of history, art and
ideologies. Clad in dirty cheap black party dress, they've been strolling through (in their own
illicitly appropriated words) “worldly anorganic cities“1, leaving the odd mark, from simple
placeholder to elaborated mural, from conceptual populism to arousing public outrage, irrespective
of your feelings or beliefs.
The motive, inspired by historic war bonds-advertising, combines three different strains of work by
the group. Their probably best known public intervention series – at least amongst the graffiti
circuit – are painted explosions, which have surfaced on the panels of passenger trains throughout
Europe and other parts of the world, as well as in Pietro Rivasi's seminal 1984 - Evoluzione e
rigenerazione del writing Project and at Zeche Zollverein's Wir stehen bereit! exhibition, curated by
the author. These simple comic-like paintings are based on the most fundamental features of the
graffiti-piece, like an expressive, attention-grabbing center, surrounded by bits and motion lines,
contained or underlaid by a soft but dynamic cloud background: all is there – minus the letters
composing a name. While exploding onto the onlookers retina, possibly by surprise, they create a
simultaneous reverse collision of references for those susceptible or sensitive to such: an allusion to
the iconic works of Jack Kirby's ilk and their disciples in the pop art movement might shine
through, as does, first and foremost, front and center, the hint to graffiti-writers' tactics of
dissemination and jargon of calling it “bombing”. Fab-5-Freddy's Art Soup, maybe, in a nut shell.
Then there are the more literally explosive, destructive motives, like terrorism or war, too.
In the foreground below we find a layer of debris, which has been the subject of some of the group's
paintings on walls, trains and freight waggons. The group like to think of such bleak,
straightforward motives as carriers of unsuspected potential for expression and interpretation.
Finally there's the lettering: printed in deep dark petrol, using original woodblock letters from the
vaults of La Fulmine's printshop: Wir zeichnen!
Although the most obvious meaning of “zeichnen” here derives from the subscription to shares –
war bonds particularly – the phrase retains a sense of ambiguity, also meaning to draw, design or
depict and even to scar. When Zelle Asphaltkultur appeal to a “we” (“wir”, in German), it is always
the question just who might be comprised and addressed by that first person plural. The marked
exclamation carries a question in disguise.
A rather rare souvenir piece of commodified, sublimated Kulturkampf by your favourite artist's
favourite artist's favourite artists.
(Text: Robert Kaltenhäuser / @unauthorizedartcritic)
1) Wir stehen bereit – Texte zur Zelle Asphaltkultur. Stiftung Zollverein, Essen 2014
https://hitzerot.com/neu-zelle-asphaltkultur-set/
Shake your eyes!