Flat Glo

After the shutdown of the Völklingen Ironworks in 1986, the area of bars around the railway station was torn down. It was a popular stop-off at shift-change, when workers would call in for a quick beer before travelling home by bus or train. In its place came a huge hypermarket, which the council hoped would revive the city’s fortunes. Flat Glo by Berlin-based US artist Brad Downey reverses this development, at least for a brief moment. When viewed from the right perspective, his installation makes the hypermarket disappear. The motivation behind his work is less a nostalgic look at bygone, more-prosperous days. Rather, it responds to the argument, often ventured in planning debates, that the Globus hypermarket creates a barrier separating the city from the former ironworks and now World Heritage Site. This barrier is a big reason why many of the international visitors to the World Heritage Site fail to find their way into the city centre.

Daniel Bauer