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Background information

The "Sculpture Path" was a central feature of the campaign “Germany – Land of Ideas”, an image and location campaign promoted by the German Federal Government and the German business sector. It was realized under the patronage of then German President, Horst Köhler and supported by the Federal Association of German Industry (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, BDI ), which calls itself the “Voice of German Industry”. The campaign’s aim was to present a positive image of Germany, both within Germany/ the country and abroad. The corporate design of the whole campaign as well as the individual design of the sculptures were created and executed by the Berlin advertising agency Scholz and Friends. The agency was repeatedly praised for this campaign, not only nationally, but also internationally. Amongst others, the campaign won the sought-after marketing event award EVA in 2006. The sculpture path consisted of six giant sculptures representing the inventiveness and wealth of ideas in Germany, which were placed at prominent locations within Berlin city centre, as for example the Bebelplatz or the Gendarmenmarkt. A number of small ceremonies marked the unveiling of the sculptures; the opening speeches were delivered by politicians, supporters of the initiative and representatives of the respective companies (as some of the sculptures depicted products of well-known German companies like Bayer, Adidas or Audi). The first sculpture to be unveiled on 10th March, 2006, “Innovative Football Boot”, was located in the Spreebogenpark. The last sculpture, which was presented to the public on the 19th of May, 2006 was “The Theory of Relativity”, which was exhibited in the Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden). The sculptures were taken down in the fall of 2006. One of the sculptures, “The Automobile”, was sent to Munich, but it is unclear what happened to the other sculptures. The total costs of the campaign from planning to realization amounted to 300, 000 - 350, 000 euros per sculpture. All of the sculptures were made of the innovative plastic material Neopor® and coated with a newly developed shiny white varnish. The production took around two months per sculpture, and the final positioning on the actual site took up to three days. Fixed on every sculpture on the trail through the German research landscape and cultural history, were information panels with texts in German and English, which explained the meaning of each sculpture.

(used some extra information from http://www.land-of-ideas.org/CDA/walk_of_ideas,241,0,,en.html)

Translation2:

Excerpt from: “Free City of Frankfurt” Frankfurt was one of the major centres of the revolutionary movement “Vormärz” ( which literally translates as “pre-March”) .

Ludwig Börne

The journalist Ludwig Börne was born in 1786 in a street named “Judengasse” (“Jews Lane”) in the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt. Ludwig Börne was the author of satirical writings and later became one of the prominent figures of the literary movement “Young Germany”. Because the Federal Assembly and Frankfurt’s city authorities were fearing for their reputation, they tried to ban political unions and to suppress the circulation of liberal works. However, they did not succeed with their attempts. At the latest, since the July Revolution of 1830, the oppositional circles of the city of Frankfurt were ablaze with a revolutionary spirit.

But the step from idealistic fervour to decisive action failed completely. […] The widely ineffective incident had, however, a very negative effect for the bourgeois elites of the city. Since then, the presence of a garrison of 2, 500 Austrian and Prussian soldiers represented a challenge to the sovereignty of the city. The royal diplomats of the Federal Assembly denigrated the city as a breeding place for liberal ideas/ liberal nest.[…]

In the early days of March, 1848, the revolutionary spirit from France spilled over to Germany. Like everywhere else, the people of Frankfurt called for the rights of freedom of the press and freedom of assembly, constitutional equality for all citizens, amnesty for all those who had been imprisoned because of political activities and the right for every citizen to bear arms. On March 3, 1848, the senate of the city granted all rights except the full emancipation of the Jewish citizens. The reformists who had met in their “Montagskränzchen” (“Monday clubs”) called for a reform of the city’s constitution.

All citizens were to elect the members of a constituent assembly for the city. This assembly was then to work out a new constitution to replace the laws which had been made as a mere addition to the old constitution. On March 9, 1848, a flag in the colours of black, red and gold was first hissed on the roof of the Palais Thurn and Taxis in Frankfurt.

On March 31, the so-called “pre-parliament” held a meeting in the Paulskirche, which had been converted from a church to a parliament building in a rush. The walls and windows of the church were decorated with flags in the colours of black, red and gold, the pulpit was covered in a cloth, the organ was hidden by a big curtain, which showed a painting by Philipp Veit. The painting depicted Germania, holding a flag and a sword. The figure was framed left and right with laurel wreaths and patriotic verses. Instead of the altar, a table for the President was set up.