Martin Honert Bürgersteig (mit Laterne), 1998

This work is a unique combination of two previously separate but related works. For his major 2012 retrospective at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Martin Honert decided to combine Bürgersteig (Sidewalk) and Laterne (Street Lamp).

Bürgersteig (Sidewalk) is a work that illustrates a mood — the remembered mood of those evenings," Honert wrote in 2012 "when, as children, we were only allowed to play on the side-walk until the streetlights went on at dusk." Bürgersteig is a precise reproduction in real size. The individual slabs are cast from a mixture of sand and epoxy resin in thin sheets, combined with aluminum sheets as supports. The entire object remains very flat when mounted on the wall, emphasizing its mural-like character. Laterne (Street Lamp) complements Bürgersteig but shifts the perspective: while Bürgersteig is installed flat against the wall, reminiscent of relief or mural, Laterne retains is original orientation.