Entwined around an otherwise unremarkable gray distribution box, The Moon in Alabama: Goa sculpture stands before you. It transforms the mundane into the extraordinary. This is not just street furniture. It is a piece of global networking art watched over by its own moon.
Tobias Rehberger, the internationally renowned artist, created this unusual object. Rehberger aimed to set completely new accents in the urban context. The ISG Bahnhofsviertel Münster e. V. and the City of Münster supported this artistic intervention. They transformed gray cubes into imaginative seating arrangements. The makeover gave eyecatching new accents to the station quarter’s street scene.
Pipes sprout like living vegetation. They coil around the once-dreary gray boxes. The cabling inside becomes a visible styling element. Münster gained eleven new sculptural attractions and each is different. The first two sculptures appeared in autumn 2013. All eleven “stations” officially opened on June 1, 2014.
The artist wished to transform “non-places” into living locations. People can find pleasure in these spaces. The eleven distribution boxes are encased in tubular constructions. They are designed to invite people to sit, meet, or rest amidst the urban bustle. There is also a touch of romance. Each installation is watched over by its own moon.
But this is not without irony. Each artificial moon only illuminates when the moon rises in its matched city. This expands the idea of connections. It embodies the function of distribution boxes. It forms a global networking system. It is watched over by Münster’s moons created by Tobias Rehberger.
According to Rehberger, he found the idea of working with Münster’s distribution boxes strange at first. However, he saw it as a challenge. He wanted to transform these “non-places”. He wanted to convert spots people ignore into sites with quality. He wanted to make them “places” at all.
The Moon in Alabama: Goa is one of eleven such sculptures. Each refers to a different city around the world. When the moon rises in Goa, it also shines here in Münster. A round illuminated sphere sits atop each pipe structure. It looks like a radiant blossom.
The sculptures began with planning in 2011 by Peter Cremer. He was chairman of the ISG Bahnhofsviertel Münster e.V. The city of Münster also collaborated. The goal was to make the station area more liveable through artistic design. This led to Rehberger’s project “The Moon in Alabama” in 2014.
The project pioneered a special funding model. Funds from the Ministry for Construction, Housing, Urban Development and Transport of the State of NRW combined with those of the ISG. Private sector sponsors also contributed. This unique urban planning and optimization measure became a reality. The ISG also covers the maintenance costs for the Rehberger project for the next ten years. Partnerships between selected sculptures and sponsors also ensure their upkeep and preservation.
These boxes are hidden junctions. They regulate communication and transport beneath urban life. In Münster, they have become sites for artistic intervention. Rehberger is famous for his bar “Günter’s (wiederbeleuchtet)”. It was a highlight of the Skulptur Projekte Münster 1997. He redesigned eleven control box locations. Gray cubes became playful colorful seating. They add new accents to the station area and invite people to sit. Dr. Gail Kirkpatrick, director of the Kunsthalle Münster, curated the project.
The heaviest of these sculptures weighs almost a ton. The sculptures resemble pipe systems in factories or circuits in electronics. Münster residents can also sit on them.
The locations include Lampertswalde in Saxony, Alabama, Kyoto, Jökulsárlón, Taormina, Chernobyl, Ibiza, Baku, Jericho, Wanne-Eickel, and Goa. Each place represents a special feature. For example, the glacier in the Icelandic ice of Jökulsárlón was the backdrop for a James Bond film. Jericho is the lowest city in the world.
Technicians can still access the control boxes. The pipes and seating areas are hinged. They can be folded away.
So, take a seat. Enjoy the artistic transformation of the everyday. Consider the global connections sparked by The Moon in Alabama: Goa.