Matthias Hoch: Silver Tower Pavilion

Location:

Station of Urban Cultures/nGbK Hellersdorf and Place Internationale

Artist:

Matthias Hoch

Working Group:

Station of Urban Cultures

Since summer 2024, the „Klassenzimmer der Zukunft“ (Classroom of the Future) has been a temporary space for the nGbK on Place Internationale, the green space not far from the Station of Urban Cultures/nGbK Hellersdorf. A former trade fair pavilion serves as an exhibition space and educational venue for various collaborations between local residents, artists, and students.

Leipzig-based photo artist Matthias Hoch is now exploring the contextual history of the trade fair pavilion for its new location with his two-part, site-specific photographic work „Silver Tower Pavilion.“ He is using photographs from his „Silver Tower“ series (2009–11) on six billboards around the pavilion. Further works from the series, as well as a new production created specifically for the exhibition, focusing on the pavilion, can be seen as a slideshow in the window of the station urbaner kulturen.

The „Silver Tower,“ designed by the architectural firm ABB and built in 1978 in Frankfurt am Main, was Germany’s tallest skyscraper until 1990. Until 2008, it served as the headquarters of Dresdner Bank. Its soft formal language and inherent spirit of innovation set new standards: open banking zones, open-plan office landscapes, an employee swimming pool on the top floor, high-quality design and furniture systems, including the interior, and a rounded and slightly floating appearance.

After billions in losses, Dresdner Bank was acquired by Commerzbank in 2009. This sealed the fate of the „Silver Tower“ as a bank headquarters. After extensive gutting and renovation, the building is still leased to Deutsche Bahn under the brand name „Silberturm.“ Photographer Matthias Hoch documented the demolition period in the form of an artistic documentary. He was interested in exploring the vacant buildings, the legacy of an era, and the biography of the place. Parallel to the industrial decay in the „New Federal States,“ the abandoned bank tower of the „Silver Tower“ depicts a parallel world of the decline of the old Federal Republic. The documentary-artistic project „Silver Tower“ tells of the end of the capitalist welfare state, with crater marks on the gray carpet where furniture and people once stood.

ABB Architects are considered among the most important architects of the post-war period in Frankfurt. In addition to the „Silver Tower,“ they also designed and built the Bundesbank, the threatened Städtische Bühnen (Municipal Theater), the Hotel Intercontinental, the first Römerberg development, the sprawling Nordwestzentrum (Northwest Center), and numerous airport buildings. In 1971, ABB Architects designed a trade fair pavilion for Dresdner Bank in Otl Aicher’s new corporate design. Until 1983, it stood on the grounds of the Frankfurt Trade Fair Center, serving as a service center for the bank’s customers. After various interim uses, the nGbK acquired the pavilion, which had since been partially altered, and built it together with the Building Technology Education Association and students from the Knobelsdorff School and the Konrad Wachsmann School in Hellersdorf.

About Matthias Hoch

Mathias Hoch, born in Radebeul in 1958, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig and later in Essen, where he also taught. His color photographs of GDR train stations and the booming buildings after reunification have been documented in numerous books. These mostly deserted and „location-descriptive“ photographs, taken with medium- or large-format cameras, depict their subjects objectively and are characterized by a large image format, even at that time.

Program

July 26, 6 p.m.: Opening with an introduction by Oliver Elser (German Architecture Museum, Frankfurt am Main) in dialogue with Matthias Hochstation, Urban Cultures/nGbK Hellersdorf

September 7, 9 p.m.: Open-air cinema „Unter dir die Stadt“ (2010, 105 min., directed by Christoph Hochhäusler) in the presence of the director, Place Internationale