User:Hubertgromny/sandbox

= Reversed Dunk = Reversed Dunk is a site-specific artwork in the form of a large, steep ramp with a shopping cart located on top of it. The ramp stands on the platform resembling a distorted and oversized basketball field. The sculpture was designed by KIM/ILLI (Seulbi Kim and Christian Illi) and won the first prize in the EDGE East Side “Bau braucht Kunst” Competition, an open, Europe–wide "Kunst am Bau" (Art in Architecture; Public Art) contest. Reversed Dunk is located in front of East Side Mall and next to Edge East Side Tower near the major U-Bahn and S-Bahn train station Warschauer Strasse. It was constructed in August 2023. The work was intended by the artists to draw attention to tensions in the area triggered by the high-profile gentrification of the riverside and to provide a platform for an active and sustainable discourse.

Location
Reverse Dunk is located between the neighborhoods of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain. Both areas traditionally were inhabited mainly by the working class, with Kreuzberg becoming the counter-culture center of West Berlin and Friedrichshain a central area of East Berlin. Since the collapse of Berlin Wall the river bank, which used to be a line of Berlin Wall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall, is ongoing a rapid gentrification and is transformed into a commerce and entertainment district. A house for international companies such as Universal Music Group, Lux and soon Amazon moving to East Side Tower, which triggered criticism of Berlin inhabitants. The area with major attractions such as East Side Gallery, Berghain , RAW-Friedrichshain , and Oberbaumbrücke, as well as, multipurpose event arena Mercedes Benz Arena is inhabited mainly by hotels and other commercial sites for tourists.

Competition
The competition, initiated by Edge, in cooperation with the senate and other parties, sought to find an artwork that would resonate with the unique character of the plot at Warschauer Strasse. “Kunst am Bau” (Art in Architecture) competitions are conducted in Berlin for most of the major constructions as a contribution to the public space.

Resulting in 14 admitted contestants, 78 contest submissions were examined by a professional Jury in the first phase, of which 17 contestants entered the second contest phase. A selection of which was presented to the public in order to vote for the final realization. Reverse Dunk was selected by both the jury and the public.

In justification of the choice Tim Edler, a founding member of the studio realities:united, writes: “A strong and direct impact emanates from the artwork "Reversed Dunk" by Studio KIM/ILLI (Seulbi Kim and Christian Illi), which stands as a visible tall sculpture in the tradition of oversized landmarks. It comments on the consumer-oriented context in an artificial and humorous manner: A shopping cart transformed into a basketball hoop can be recognized, and the access platform is reinterpreted as the playing field. While not an actual game, it certainly forms a shared space. The jury appreciated the provocative openness with which the artwork freezes the contradictions of the location and the tension between the public space as the foundation of society and its consumerist appropriation into a strong and bewildering image. [...] The final discussion ultimately places the work "Reversed Dunk" in the first position, not without discussing the considerable technical and constructive challenges that will require a high level of precision and collaborative ability from the actors in the implementation”.

Symbolism
The artwork intended as a commentary on the contradictory commercialisation of the area neighboring to traditionally working class districts of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshein operates with various cultural symbols. A curved ramp resembles a graph of economic growth. Shopping cart placed on top of it creates a humorous effect, by elevating the most basic symbol of everyday consumerism just in front of East Side Mall.

Drawing Inspiration from urban cultures such as basketball and skateboarding the piece points out to the lack of space for the genuine urban culture within a highly commercialized context. The artwork is an invitation to discuss effects of neoliberal economy for urban planning and by inviting the public for playful engagements and attempts to recreate public space.

The form of the ramp echoes the basic structure of a single Berlin Wall single panel locating the piece within the context of the tension between former Socialist and Capitalist German states of GDR  and FRG.

The artwork has also anamorphic quality, as the lines of the basketball court from certain perspective (especially while viewing from above) form a graphic representation of a middle finger gesture. KIM/ILLI alludes in this way to Ai Wei Wei Study of Perspective, in which the artist photograph middle finger in front of various landmarks with very characteristic qualities. In this case the middle finger is pointed to the new landmark of Berlin—Amazon Tower—the highest structure in the city.

Construction
The ramp is constructed as a hollow metal form with a shopping card attached to the top of it. Both the ramp and the platform are covered with asphalt-like material. Halfcourt basket ball markings are executed in stainless steel 'cutting' the site.

Weblinks:


 * https://arteastside.com/
 * https://www.bbk-kulturwerk.de/kulturwerk/buero-fuer-kunst-im-oeffentlichen-raum/kioer-wettbewerbsergebnisse/2021
 * https://www.bbk-kulturwerk.de/news/250621-buergerbeteiligung-im-wettbewerb-edge-east-side