Olaf Metzel

13.4.1981

Olaf Metzel’s work “13.4.1981” was realized in 1987 as part of the project “Skulpturenboulevard”. Metzel was one of eight artists from Berlin who on the occasion of the city of Berlin’s 750 anniversary was asked by the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein on contract from the Berliner Senat to produce a work to be placed in public space. The other artists taking part in “Skulpturenboulevard” were Frank Dornseif, Josef Erben, Brigitte Matschinsky-Denninghoff and Martin Matschinsky-Denninghoff, George Rickey, Rolf Szymanski and Wolf Vorstell. Each artist was asked to make a work that referred to the notion of public space and they were themselves to choose the location for the work inside the area between Rathenauplatz and Wittenbergplatz in the centre of West Berlin. “13.4.1981” consisted of over-dimensioned red and white police fences and a shopping cart, piled up on top of each other (12 m high) and alongside it over-sized pavestones made out of cement. The title,”13.4.1981”, referred to the spontaneous riot and vandalism on Kurfürstendamm the night between the 12 and 13 April 1981 after the media incorrectly announced that Sigurd Debus, member of Rote Armee Fraktion, had died in custody as result of a hunger strike. Metzel’s work was a direct comment to the media’s manipulative power. The misinformation that was brought in circulation short before the parliamentary elections was intended to affect the public in favour of CDU. “13.4.1981” was by many interpreted as symbol of the autonomous society and as critique of the police state. It was extensively criticised by the press, the politicians and the citizens of Berlin but it was also received positively by parts of the population. It became the central meeting place for demonstrations, it rained flyers during the census boycott and at the Tour de France it served as a tribune.
Metzel himself has expressed that “13.4.1981” was not intended as a monumental symbol of class struggle against the capitalist society (as it was perceived by many) but rather as a public autonomous intervention in relation to the event on the 13.4.1981. Following the very mixed reception, “13.4.1981” was dismantled in 1988. After restoration “13.4.1981” was re-erected in November 2001. It can now be seen in Berlin-Friedrichshain along the Spree-river next to the head office of Universal Music.

Olaf Metzel in conversation with Marius Babias, in Jungle World, Juli 1998.
Olaf Metzel

Born 1952 in Berlin/D, lives and works in Munich/D.

Solo exhibitions

Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, 2007

Deutsche Kiste, Städtische Kunstsammlungen, Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt
Ernst Barlach Museum, Wedel, 2001

In einer öffentlichen Halle ist nie ein Mensch zum Fegen da, daadgalerie, Berlin, 1995

Was heißt hier Deutschland, ZDF Jugend-Journal, Mainz, 1987

Tankstelle Landsbergerstr. 193 (B 2), Kunstraum München, München, 1981

Group exhibitions

Das Grosse Rasenstück. Zeitgenössische Kunst im öffentlichen Raum, Nürnberg, 2006

Arbeit Essen Angst, Kokerei Zollverein | Zeitgenössissche Kunst und Kritik, Essen, 2001

Documenta 8, Kassel

Skulptur Projekte in Münster 1997, Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster, 1997

Umwandlungen, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, 1991
Skulpturenboulevard Kurfürstendamm Tauentzien, Berlin, 1987

Dem Frieden eine Form geben – zugehend auf eine Biennale des Friedens, Kunstverein in Hamburg, 1985

Berlin – Kunst wird nicht durch Mauern umgrenzt, Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven, 1981

Bibliography
Olaf Metzel, 13.4.1981, contributions by W. Grasskamp, W. M. Faust, A. Dückers, C. Heinrich, R. Bergmann, B. Straka, F. Waldvogel, H. Dickel, Verlag Silke Schreiber, 2005
Olaf Metzel, Montag mit Freitag, contributions by M. Babias, M. Eichhorn, S. Hofer, O. Metzel, M. Streeruwitz, Verlag Silke Schreiber, 2001
Basisarbeit, contributions by O. Metzel (ed.), M. Babias, R. Block, D. Diederichsen, Akademie der Bildenden Künste München,1999
Olaf Metzel in conversation with Marius Babias, in Jungle World, Juli 1998.
Olaf Metzel: Skulptur, Kunstraum München, 1982
Links
http://www.lwl.org/LWL/Kultur/Landesmuseum/kdm/moderne/2003_/2006_04/index2_html
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/periodika/jungle_world/_98/27/32a.htm http://www.lwl.org/skulptur-projekte-download/muenster/97/metzel/k_e.htm