We currently combine the necessary scaffolding of the western façade with a rather specific exhibition project: the walls facing Kolumba Street will be subsequently designed by various artists from the fields of Graffiti, Street Art, and Installation to compose a unique series of „art in public space“. Instead of acting as commissioner, Kolumba merely offers its façade as a space and medium for the artists our curators Leonie Gehrke and Johannes Stahl liaise with to run the project. The building fence as a scene of art promises new inspiration and suspense, suggesting further ideas for a dialogue between the museum und the street which bears its name. So, let’s allow ourselves to be surprised ... !

Since the scaffolding and a protective tarpaulin have now been erected and all building fences removed, we get a clear, full view over three pieces of graffiti, emerging as the first part of our project (set up on 26 November). The artists invited have created quite an extraordinary composition by blending signs and styles common to Street Art with reflections based on their own impressions of a visit to the current exhibition. Surprisingly enough, there are allusions not only to the latest publication of Kolumba’s –a collection of essays on devotional pictures (‚holy cards’)– but also to the chapel of the „Madonna in the Ruins“ and Kolumba’s aspiration to be a museum of contemplation. The result shows a frieze depicting the various symbolics of holy cards along the many-sided facets and images of Mary, Mother of God (e.g. as in Michelangelo’s „Pietà“) or the distinct request to think about friend and foe („Think“).