Hamburg-Mitte, the district surrounding the Binnenalster, is the touristic epicentre of Hamburg. It’s environment is dominated by all things commercial.
Consumerism forms the base to almost every single building in the area. Jungfernstieg, a place that got its name from the families that where “selling off” their daughters into marriage there, stands as a role model and the beginning of modern day consumerism in Germany.
In 1838 the Jungfernstieg was the first ever road in Germany to be asphalted. In 1843, after a fire destroyed most of the area, the first big luxurious shopping mall appeared on this site.
Nowadays storefronts and Displays everywhere battle for the crowd's attention, trying to lure them into their stores and buy their products.
But what exactly makes them so attracting, why do we pay attention to these monuments of consumerism?
For one day we let ourselves be carried, by the waves of tourists, through the streets of Hamburg-Mitte. Let ourselves be drawn to everything seeking for our attention, collecting everything we thought contributed to these monumental structures of advertency.
The roads are paved with shopping bags. People walking around with them, walking next to them or walking around them. Sometimes people even get circled by them. In the end, everybody has one, everybody carries
one! If there is one thing that outnumbres and might even outstand any other item in scene, its definitely one of hamburg-mitte’s shoppingbags!
Giving the districts long history in consumerism it is really interesting to see how the future, where online sales and the digitalisation of the market are gaining more and more traction, is going to shape the area.
Brands are invading our private spaces. Using our homes to advertise their products even more aggressively, desensitizing us to their omnipresence.
Assuming that in the future, the shopping bag will have disappeared from the streets of hamburg mitte, due to the evolution of the store into a monument for its brand, our readymade is reminding people of this forgotten time, where consumerism was clearly separated from our private space. Shopping bag monuments might warn people about the intentions of those brands even though they aren’t selling you anything in their stores anymore.
This change in our sense of privacy ultimately makes us more comfortable in commercial spaces like the Jungfernstieg area. Since we don’t go to stores to buy products anymore, those buildings will transform into communal spaces for people to meet, relax and hang out together. The stores transform into monuments for their brands. They use their existing space to create a seemingly harmless surrounding, a comfort zone as close as possible to the brand. A garden “Eden” where you enjoy the shadow the trees are giving you, not even realizing how close to the forbidden fruit you have gotten.
We can already see this happening in Hamburg-Mitte today. In 2006 the Jungfernstieg was transformed from a promenade, with trees and buildings on both sides, into the space we know today. The street was significantly narrowed and the trees and buildings on the alster side where removed, to make more room for the people to hang out, or maybe to move the shops closer to the people on the other side.
The shops used to change their appearances seasonally to remain attractive, but they know now, that to keep this attraction in the future, they need to rethink their strategy and change their whole character Monumentalize!
Two apples not so different. Temptation? Hypnotism? Pursuit of satisfaction?
Gaga Grand Opening : Der neue Hamburger In-Club #Gaga #ClubGaga #GagaHamburg #Party #Event #Hamburg
Club Gaga Hamburg | Fanaticar Magazin
Diesen Samstag wird die Hansestadt Hamburg um ein ganz delikates Clubhighlight reicher werden. Dann nämlich öffnen sich die Pforten des “Gaga” am Spielbudenplatz. Die ersten Bilder zeigen ein geschmackvolles Design im stilvollen Ambiente. Dafür verantwortlich zeichnen sich die Querkopf Architekten. Schauen wir mal, wie der Club unter der Führung von Reini…
