Stadthimmel–Citysky

Littmann Kulturprojekte
Klaus Littmann grew up in Basel. After studying art at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, where he was strongly influenced by Professor Josef Beuys, he established himself as a freelance mediator of contemporary art. He first made his name as an initiator and organizer of individual and group exhibitions, before turning his attention on the planning and realization of theme oriented art exhibitions and art interventions in the public arena. Underlying each of his complex, spectacular projects is a two-pronged approach that highlights the artist’s preoccupation with everyday culture and the confrontation between contemporary art and urban spaces as they have developed over time. Characteristics and determinants of quality in Littmann’s work as mediator are the network of contacts among internationally known artists that he has built up over the past quarter century and his ability to spot talent and untapped creativity. As a result, his projects – Littmanns Kulturprojekte – now generate a tremendous media echo and a great deal of public interest. In 2002 Klaus Littmann received the cultural award of the City of Basel.

The Project
From May 30 to September 14, 2008 Basel’s sky turned partly artificial, an artists’ Stadthimmel (“Citysky”) in the form of printed awnings of mesh vinyl hung between building facades. The Citysky was above the overhead tram wires and the street lighting. The interplay of different heights and the different shapes of these sheets of celestial objects generated an atmospherically vibrant, rich world of images and emotions. Citysky managed to create new urban spaces and horizons in public spaces. The translucent street images turned the firmament over Basel into an exciting world of experience that bathed inhabitants and visitors alike in brightly coloured and surprising worlds of art and artistry.

The Citysky
The man-made sky linked the piazza in front of the trade fair halls with the forecourt of the main railway station and, hence, the two parts of Basel on either side of the Rhine. Fabric celestial bodies, some of them transparent, floated in a blaze of lightness and colour, and artists used them to recount – in various designs by various means – stories drawn from the inexhaustible universe of art. The result is, so to speak, a flying artistic composition whose aesthetics and form recall the tradition of painted ceilings. The confrontation between the architecture of everyday buildings and the tradition of painted ceilings became an endless source of fascinating contrasts. Strolling under the man-made sky with its constantly changing horizons, lighting and images became a unique artistic experience in itself.

In addition, the Citysky project has made it its duty to ensure that art in public spaces is more than just ornamental, but encourages people to think.

The Workings of Citysky
Nine internationally renowned artists were being invited to present appropriate designs for different sections of the Citysky project. These works were understood as fruitful and fertile approaches to the general topics of urban life, architecture, transport, nature, time, communication, play, sport and public spaces – and thus also as food for thought. Public spaces as such are designed and perceived individual entities. They become the public expression of history, of the traditions and the wealth of a city, but increasingly frequently also the face of a globalized urbanity whose uniformity rides roughshod over cultural distinctions and whose means of expression churn out interchangeability. The Citysky project ought to break this mould of uniformity and alienation of public spaces: it used artistic means to intervene in existing spaces, confronting reality with art and art with reality.

The City and the Artists’ Sky
The similarity between the Citysky and the art form of painted ceilings not only exaggerated its motifs as seemingly sacred; its motifs and world of images can also gave public spaces a new identity. The familiar urban space underneath the artificial sky was perceived within new boundaries and transformed by the play of light and shadow into an animated invitation to new experiences waiting to be discovered. In one sense at least, the firmament above Basel was transformed into an “art cathedral”. The colourfulness of Citysky continued to radiate even after sunset. The motifs on mesh vinyl backlit with high-voltage floodlights produced a cohesive, particularly enchanting night universe.

An Idea with a Past
Awnings have been stretched across streets since Antiquity. The Roman word for an awning is “velum”. According to contemporary writers, vela were draped not only over theatres, but also over streets, squares and courtyards and atria to protect people from the sun’s rays. This tradition of vela is still alive in, for instance, Madrid’s pedestrian precincts.

Architecture adopted the function and aesthetics of awnings in velaria. The best illustration of a modern velarium is in the Olympic stadium in Munich.

The Core Project, and Supporting Measures
The first phase of the project involved enquiries and invitations to artists to design appropriate motifs for suitable public spaces. They drew sketches from which the motifs were transferred to the mesh vinyl. The following artists, among others, were approached to participate in Citysky: Daniel Buren, Renate Buser, Nathan Carter, Subodh Gupta, Hanspeter Hofmann, Peter Kogler, Shuvinai Ashoona/John Noestheden, Katharina Sieverding.

A pocket-sized catalogue was produced to guide people through the world of images in Citysky. The individual motifs were explained in the form of picture captions. A comprehensive publication and film documentation provided in-depth information about the project, providing not only an additional platform for the temporary art-intervention but above all a permanent record. Citysky and its history will live on in people’s and the city’s memories.

Art and the City
In cities, contemporary art is public art. It is created in the context of urban life and a city’s social structures, history, traditions and peculiarities. Artistically transformed public spaces enter into a fruitful dialogue with the cityscape as a whole. They generate thoughtfulness, open up new perceptions, spark discussions, provide impulses or simply embody the joy of expression and fun with art, with playful ideas and spirited creativity. Art thus becomes a city’s visiting card.