A lot has been written about the aura of original artworks, but nobody has thought about the aura of a patch of grass from the Allianz Arena. For the Greifenberg artist Axel Wagner, it was nevertheless very important that the 15 square meters of soccer turf that he laid out in the waiting room at the Schondorf train station were real. And a group of teenage learner drivers actually kneel down in reverence to touch the blades of grass that their idols Thomas Müller and Manuel Neuer ran over last season. “Stadion” is the name of the installation that is Wagner’s artistic commentary on the World Cup.
This came about as follows: After the NFL game in the Allianz Arena in November, the turf had to be replaced. Wagner was able to get 15 square meters that had not been completely trampled by the football players. They arrived in Schondorf rolled up in several lanes. About a quarter of the waiting room is now covered with this soccer green including turf. The white edge markings and the corner flag were added later. Wagner converted a wall lamp into a flying soccer ball. Loud stadium roar sounds from a loudspeaker as soon as someone enters the waiting room. A display case that used to display timetables now lists the names of 15 workers who died during the construction of the stadium in Qatar, representing thousands of others.
Something is where it doesn’t belong: an analogy to the World Cup in Qatar
Wagner explains that he deliberately misplaced the stadium piece. It is now in a place where it does not belong and where it does not fit. “I would like to make a critical contribution to the current World Cup in Qatar.” The soccer World Cup is currently being held in a place where it doesn’t belong. He himself has not yet decided whether he will watch the German team’s other games on television, he says, but: “This is a good place to think about it.” Basically, football is something that connects him, so he wants to use his work to encourage tolerance.
Most recently, Axel Wagner (right) was still interested in his grandmother’s art. “Rhizome” was the name of the exhibition in the Dießen Taubenturm. Now he denounces the exploitation of workers in Qatar.
(Photo: Franz Xaver Fuchs)
In the Schondorf train station, the aura of the meticulously tended, lush green carpet of lawn, which continues to grow unimpressed by its rapture, collides with the equally charged aura of the waiting room, in which not only cigarette smoke and body odors from decades have settled, but also countless farewells and patiently served delays in hanging in the air. In the visitor’s mind’s eye, the expanse of the soccer field stretches out almost indefinitely, the dilapidated wall, a radiator and a wastepaper basket bring him back to the aging brown tiled floor of the facts.
Two well-known situations, which do not go together at all, are mixed up here: the resulting irritation is deliberately caused by Wagner. In his artistic work, he prefers simple interventions that create clear images, he explains. For him, the work “Stadion” has purely aesthetic, but also socially critical aspects. And last but not least, she demands a certain tolerance from the train passengers, who just want to warm up in the waiting room, as well as from the visitors interested in art: because if the sound loop with the din of the stadium is switched on via a motion detector, conversations are no longer possible.
The “Stadium” installation can be seen until the World Cup final on December 18th, during the opening hours of the waiting room daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and through the windows at all other times. Anyone who wants to bring the aura of the original lawn home can purchase a square meter for 50 euros. Axel Wagner donates the proceeds to an organization that campaigns against female genital mutilation.