Die Gesellschaft der Stadtwanderer

Seen from a distance, there is nothing unusual about the stickers that fans of the football club 1. FC Saarbrücken have stuck to the city map in front of Völklingen train station. Step closer, however, and it is quickly clear that the stickers are populated by tiny figures bearing the Saarbrücken colours of blue, black and yellow. Created by the Wanderlust Social Club, which teamed up with the Gesellschaft der Stadtwanderer (Urban Wanderers Society) for the Urban Art Biennale 2024, this miniature work commemorates a piece of recent history. Between 2016 and 2020, while renovation work was being carried out at the Ludwigspark Stadium in Saarbrücken, the men’s first team of 1. FC Saarbrücken played their home matches at the Hermann Neuberger Stadium in Völklingen. During this time, ultras from Saarbrücken would arrive at the station by train and then march en masse to the stadium. Countless stickers still mark their route today, recalling the period of the “Völklingen diaspora”, when high-ranking teams such as Bayer Leverkusen and Fortuna Düsseldorf also visited Völklingen for the 2019/2020 cup competition. For some of the people of Völklingen, this may well have brought back memories of the 1970s, when local team SV Röchling still played in the 2nd division of the Bundesliga…

Daniel Bauer