Over there a huge multicoloured face dominates the building. It is the Face Time Mural. The mural is located on the border of Mitte and Kreuzberg. The Face Time Mural is part of the Face Time series by Various & Gould.
Let’s dive into the story behind this captivating piece of art. Various & Gould are based in Berlin. They began working together in 2005. The duo often uses the urban space as a key element. They investigate social issues and current situations. Various & Gould find beauty in everyday life. They create bright images using typographical symbols and encrypted messages. Their art addresses challenging themes. These themes include migration, work, gender, and political and financial crises. They treat these issues with an exuberant style, generating public performances and installations.
The Face Time Project features a series of faces. These faces are conceived as collaged heads. Various facial parts are assembled using different techniques and styles. The result is a completely new character. The Face Time Mural spans 250 square meters. It presents a mixed-pattern face. This face seems more real than those often seen in daily news. Various & Gould state that it is more of a patchwork identity. The mural celebrates human diversity. It invites viewers to look beyond the glossy beauty faces promoted on social media.
Various and Gould adapt their mix of screen-print and collage. They do so in a painterly manner on a large scale. The 350 m² facade was developed with the architects roedig . schop.
Various & Gould do not create portraits. Instead, they create character studies in the form of collaged heads. They seek individuals that do not exist in reality. The artist duo assembles varied facial parts. They invent new characters like an identikit picture catalogue.
The Face Time Mural stands 80 meters from the former Berlin Wall. It lies in an area straddling the former east and former west. Various and Gould spent 12 days creating this mural. The patchwork face mimics the increasing diversity of the city.
The mural is a greatly enlarged version of a collage. The collage was made from about 20 different faces. This piece is their first mural in the city. It raises questions about our sense of identity. It also questions what exactly defines identity.
One person asked them what the man’s name was. He said the face reminded him of a young Obama. Gould explained that it is more of a patchwork identity. The result is not a real person with a name. They cannot even say if it is a man. The single face parts vary in gender.
The artists fell in love with the screen-printing process years ago. The design comes from a silkscreen print collage. They wheatpasted versions of it on the street in Paris earlier in the year. The two even used a typical silkscreen method for painting. First, they painted the areas of color underneath. Then, they carefully applied the halftone layer with all the dots on top.
Various says their aim is to create characters not to portray actual people. Gould agrees that their fictional faces seem more real to them than many faces shown in the media.
The creation of the Face Time Mural involved chance. An architect’s office contacted them through an acquaintance. The architects wanted the wall of a new house painted. Various & Gould suggested drafts from their Face Time series. The architects loved it and everything moved quickly. People from the office even helped them paint.
Each silkscreen of the Face Time edition is hand-painted and unique. There is no permanent color scale. Shortly before working on the mural, they spent a week drawing planes on papers. It is a slow process. They mixed colors and experimented with their composition. Rhythm proved a vital part. After the mural, they returned to the paper. They added accents and applied grid points.
Various says their mural is basically a huge silk-screen. Gould says they have more ideas than time. The Face Time Mural is a testament to their creativity. It is a celebration of diversity. It challenges our perceptions of beauty and identity.
As you stand here, consider the message of the Face Time Mural. Think about the beauty of human diversity. Question the faces you see every day.