"Gateway to the World"
Alzy, germany, 1999

organization: Daniela Tagliaferri / Wolfgang Fischer   co-operation: Farbfieber Artists: Humberto Hernandez Martinez, Mary Cary (Cuba), Paola Ramirez (Colombia), Citlali Sorena (Mexico), Klaus Klinger (Düsseldorf / Germany)

Alzey, market

The mural

“Gateway to the World”

one of the lot of dinners

The first mural on Agenda 21 this year was a major event for Alzey, a small town in Rheinland-Pfalz.
The artists Humberto Hernandez Martinez and Klaus Klinger worked and lived together for five weeks, having been invited by the local organizers Daniela Tagliaferri and Wolfgang Fischer.
In the first weeks they had public meetings with local initiatives, artists and city representatives, to develop the idea for the mural.

detail

The director of the Alzey museum led the artists through the town and his museum and introduced them to history and the current situation in the town. The information was completed by the “Altstadtverein³, which has been fighting for years for the maintenance of local historical buildings. After several public assemblies and conversations the artists designed a “Gateway to the World”.

The artists chose the shape of a gate for several reasons. The wall of the “Burggrafiat” sealed off the street like a cul-de-sac. The gate creates a visual breakthrough and allows a glimpse into “the world”.
Simultaneously it reminds of the historical gate which stood nearby and was recently destroyed, and of the castle gates of the more than 1800 year old history of Alzey.

Die Thora (Detail)

Gates symbolize openings, a coming and going, a giving and taking. They can also be closed, there can be gate guards, travellers, fugitives and asylum-seekers. When the viewer looks through this painted gate he can see far the island of Cuba on the horizon, an invitation to build up a partnership with this country as well as all other nations.
It is a look at this contradictory world and its own history. One will find fossils in the ground at Alzey, more than 35 million years old, and a Torah, a reminder of the local synagogue which was destroyed in 1936.

Rotoren (Detail)

One archway is supported by a bottle of win. Wine has established the wealth of this region, but which has also led to a monoculture with corresponding ecological consequences. A freeway interchange casts its shadow upon the landscape. On the other side an old tree begins to turn green again, and a sealed ground recovers it again. The clouds symbolize motion and change.

The rough draft had been introduced to the public at an exhibition opening of Cuban art, held in the “Burggrafiat” (museum). Since the wall is in a shopping area there were many conversations and discussions with passers by.

paintings of childrens

The neighbourhood supported the project with coffee or donated money for the project. Kurt Büttner, a cameraman from Alzey documented the working process daily.

The press did a regular report on the different stages of the work and in front of the mural painting-actions with children took place. The mural was inaugurated by the mayor, accompanied by the participation of the local Janus theatre group and many Alzey citizens, on August 7th, 1999.
A counterpart-mural has been planned in January in Cuba. Alzey now has an agenda representative.

a gate to rhe world

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