Schwanheimer Slime
#worstcase #yellowcloud #toxicenvironment
On Rose Monday 1993, a yellow cloud appeared in the sky over Frankfurt-Schwanheim. The cloud came all the way from the chemical plant of the former Hoechst AG over the Main and left a layer of yellow slime across the districts Goldstein and Schwanheim. A few days later, they realised that the cloud was loaded with a dangerous chemical substance, shot into the air during an incident in the chemical plant.
On 13 September 2014, the yellow cloud comes back to Griesheim – Hendrik Quast and Maika Knoblich produce their own incident at three locations in Schwanheim. Inspired by the events in 1993, they cook and sell (in)edible yellow slime in repurposed Erdbeerhäuschen (a small stall in form of a strawberry). Three Schwanheimer clubs host the strawberries: the restaurant "Zum Nussbaum" at Kleingarten Kolonie II, the Kobelt Zoo and the dog place of Schwanheim. The project was part of EVAKUIEREN (German: Evacuate)– Frankfurt‘s first escape and rescue plan for the Rhine-Main region, developed with an international artist and research team under the artistic direction of Akira Takayama.
Idea, curator Akira Takyama
Production Port B, Tokyo & Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt am Main.
Co-production Staatstheater Mainz, Hessisches Staatstheater Mainz
Funded by German Federal Cultural Foundation, Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, Japan Foundation, Hessian Theatre Academy
In the restaurant of an allotment garden stands a strawberry where artist duo Quast & Knoblich perform a very special sales promotion. They advertise yellow slime as cleaning products and satirize the calming voices of the economy and politics.
Nachtkritik, 13 September 2014, Esther Boldt