Art court arcades
The art court arcades are recognizable by the flying cow. Duplicated in a Warhol-like manner, it marks the entrances to the premises 21 to 25 Görlitzer Straße and 70 Alaunstraße and invites the visitor to peep behind the fronts into the five connected courts.
The idea of reviving the rundown backyards in the “Äußere Neustadt”, in which living and working harmonize with each other in artistic reflection, arose in the 1990s. The project became a showcase.
Each mural picks up its own topic, taking into account the individual profiles of the owner-managed shops and pubs with their creative and fancy character. Many of them offer unique pieces that are readily bought.
Court of mythical creatures
Neustadt sculpturer Viola Schöpe treated Italian ornament tiles, Portuguese majolica and Meißen porcelain with a pipe wrench in 1997. She assembles them into human, animal and fantastic beings on the walls. At the south front, she created a symbol of the river of life. On the opposite side, there are mythical creatures, stars, comets, and love as the all-pervading element that holds the world together. Thus, the first court was formed at 70 Alaunstraße.
Court of light
One year later, the passage towards Görlitzer Straße into the court of light, decorated with the crowned snake from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tale “The Golden Pot” was opened. It forms the centre of the courts with a footbridge and projection surfaces. Depending on the position of the sun, metal mirrors produce manifold reflections on the walls.
Court of elements
During one winter term, fine arts students Annette Paul, Christoph Roßner and André Tempel were inspired in St. Petersburg by the bizarre rainwater pipes. Those were much larger in diameter that in Germany and run open in wild turns along the house fronts. In the following, very rainy summer, the idea of an audible fountain was completed. Like a rain theatre, the water bursts through gorges and funnels and is collected in a basin. The spectacle takes place on the half hour during the warm season. Vis-á-vis on the sun yellow wall, golden aluminium sheets are installed, creating the impression of having been blown there in a gust of wind
Court of metamorphoses
The neighbouring court of metamorphoses was designed by Dresden light artist Arend Zwicker. Several stelae, made of steel and with a height of up to 15 metres, have been treated in a manner that the metal changes its impression depending on the incidence of light and in the progress of the day. The nocturnal illumination is created with vertically running, slim glass pipes. Moreover, there is a connection between the position of the sun and 24 different paper grades that the artist has cut into equal sheets, saturated one half of each sheet’s surface with linseed oil, and framed and mounted them on the side walls. Various shades of staining and marbling have thus developed over the years.
Court of anmials
In 2002, masons Markus Sandner and Oliver Matz created the last of the five courts, the one at 21 Görlitzer Straße. All kinds of animals climb, stretch and hide in reliefs made of sandstone on the rear side of the front building, birds fly high above them. The balconies are wrapped with hurdle work; the green of the façade and the wood-clad lamps in the passage are reminiscent of the animals’ habitats, maybe a mystical jungle. The opposite wall has wickerwork shutters that can be moved horizontally. The pond in the middle with the devout water buffalo is flanked by rock-like sandstones that holds a lot of different creatures, too. The rippling of a water course invites the visitors to linger at the outside tables between polar bear and Feng Shui house.
