For almost 20 years, travellers and visitors of the station Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof have been able to experience contemporary art in a variety of forms. In cooperation with the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg and the NEULAND Wohnungsgesellschaft, the KUNST-STATION, the station's waiting area, offers various artists a place for individual design every six months. It all began in 2005 with a floor artwork by the artist Daniel Buren, which can still be seen at the station today. Since then, various artists have been able to offer their works a stage in an urban environment at the KUNST-STATION. From 29 March 2024, the artist duo Mehmet and Kazim will now be making a guest appearance at Wolfsburg Hautbahnhof with their spatial installation "Edding 3000".
At the KUNST-STATION at Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof, artists such as Andreas Greiner can introduce travellers and visitors to contemporary art during their stay at the station.
Contemporary photography, toy giants or an entire room made of red artificial turf: Since 2007, the waiting area at Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof has been regularly transformed into a small gallery using a wide variety of art forms and designs. The so-called KUNST-STATION, which is the waiting area, regularly hosts changing artists of different styles with their works. This means that art can be experienced around the clock directly at the station.
The KUNST-STATION project is a co-operation with the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg and NEULAND Wohnungsgesellschaft, which began in 2005 with the installation of a permanent floor artwork by Daniel Buren at the station. The French artist used white stripes of equal width to create a symbol of transformation that draws the eye directly to the waiting area at the station and thus to the KUNST-STATION. The stripes used are considered Daniel Buren's trademark and run perpendicular to the entrance façade. They thus play with the light from the window fronts. The floor installation can still be seen today at Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof.
The design of the station has been changing regularly since 2007. The 15 square metres of the waiting area are constantly being transformed with new works that can be experienced and perceived by travellers, guests of the city and visitors of Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof. The Mannheim artist Werner Degreif was one of the first to design the KUNST-STATION with his mural "Unterwegs". In it, he drew on a wide variety of elements from the transport infrastructure, such as signs and traffic lights, and arranged them in a highly condensed form on the walls of the waiting area. In the years that followed Werner Degreif's work, a wide variety of artists from a wide range of disciplines designed the KUNST-STATION, thus demonstrating a broad diversity of contemporary art. For his work entitled "Red" at the station in 2009, artist René Seifert used a rather unconventional material - bright red artificial turf - which he arranged on the walls of the waiting room and throughout the entire space. The red artificial turf used was the same as that used on the Vatican's football pitch.
Other artists, on the other hand, not only limited themselves to the waiting area, but also helped to design other parts of the station, such as its façade or outdoor area. Berlin artist Arturo Herrera, for example, not only created a counterpoint to the functional architecture of the station building with his temporary spatial installation "Hop" in 2018, which extended from the KUNST-STATION over part of the window front, but also an energetic overall work. The work provided a new perspective on the station.
Until 10 March 2024, the artist Paul Hutchinson presented his works in the waiting area of the station. Travellers and visitors were able to enjoy his photographs on the theme of "think of the past tomorrow" during their stay at the station. You can get an impression of all the installations and the official openings on YouTube.
From 29 March 2024, the artworks of the two artists Mehmet and Kazim can be seen at Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof. In the KUNST-STATION, their spatial installation "Edding 3000" will show close-ups of canvases that make the language of the street recognisable through graffiti. The two artists are bringing their graffiti art into the public space in a completely legal manner, which represents an exciting contrast to the origin of this art form.
Since its inception, the KUNST-STATION has been supported by Uwe Seel, an employee of station management Braunschweig/Göttingen. In addition to his various other tasks, he has dedicated himself with commitment and pleasure to making works of art come alive at Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof. After almost 50 years of service, Uwe Seel will take his well-deserved retirement in 2025. In the run-up to this, however, he will accompany the next KUNST-STATION art project from mid-March 2024 and thus provide another space for artists to create in the urban environment. We would like to thank Uwe Seel for his tireless commitment to the KUNST-STATION at Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof.