Frankfurter KunstSäule

Vernissage Frankfurter Stuhl von Julia Roppel

Design strengthens democracy, and democracy needs design. WDC is a socio-political project that has a regional identity but aims to radiate internationally in order to better shape the future. To this end, the Art Column looks back, with Julia Roppel, at an icon of Frankfurt design. After last year’s focus on the Frankfurt Kitchen and New Objectivity on the occasion of 100 Years of New Frankfurt, Roppel now places the spotlight entirely on the Frankfurt Chair.

This was developed around 90 years ago and stands for a sustainable improvement of everyday life with high quality. With her Frankfurt studio chair, which bears traces of her works, the artist enjoys experimenting: the chair serves not only as a seat but also as a substitute for a ladder—and has even been part of installations. In her world-famous dance theater, Pina Bausch gave a Frankfurt chair a “role”; it was danced on, or even danced itself through the air. Accordingly, Roppel’s work on the column is not a static reference but a dynamic image featuring several Frankfurt chairs that appear to have tumbled down. As a painting surface, she used a double-page spread from the Frankfurt art newspaper Montez Express.

Location: At the Frankfurt Art Column, on the corner of Brückenstraße and Gutzkowstraße in Sachsenhausen, near Schweizer Platz

Free admission. Our venue is fully accessible.

Our popular offspace provides an established place to engage in conversation—based on artworks on the KunstSäule—with art enthusiasts, passersby, and local residents about art, the socio-political challenges of contemporary life, and the necessity of democracy. Florian Koch and Daniel Hartlaub are the two curators of the KunstSäule.