Award-winning façade art project comes to Offenbach

The artist Case Maclaim will paint the 1896 painting "Sogni" (Dreams) by Vittorio Matteo Corcos on the approximately 100 square meter façade of the building at Nordring 34 opposite the Hafenschule from 19 April. The building is owned by Stadtwerke subsidiary GBO Gemeinnützige Baugesellschaft Offenbach mbH, which is making the project possible in cooperation with the Bonn-based Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation. The initiative for the project on the Nordring came from Offenbach cultural manager Kai Schmidt.

Murals is the name given to the urban art form of large-format pictures on the walls of buildings. With the Walls of Vision project, the non-profit Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation aims to keep historical works of art relevant and alive through large-scale interpretations in public spaces. In the statutes of his charitable foundation, Hans Riegel stipulated, among other things, the long-term care and preservation of art and cultural assets as well as making them accessible to the public. The portrait of a woman by the artist Vittorio Corcos, who died in Florence in 1933, was selected for Offenbach and reinterpreted by the artist Case Maclaim on the wall of a building. The façade artworks are intended to be places of dialog and discourse. "We are delighted to be able to realize this fantastic project in Offenbach. Offenbach is a creative city - not least thanks to the University of Art and Design and the many creative people here. We now hope that with Murals, we can offer young people an innovative approach to the visual arts and inspire them with their many ways of expressing themselves," says City Councillor Martin Wilhelm, who is also Chairman of the GBO Supervisory Board.

GBO is the first property owner in Offenbach to make a façade on one of its properties available for this purpose. Case Maclaim will apply the image around the corner on two sides to further enhance the effect. "Many people drive and walk past here on the Nordring every day and we can show them art in an unusual context," says Daniela Matha, Managing Director of GBO. "With this participation, the GBO wants to contribute to offering the citizens of the city beautiful moments and opportunities to pause for a moment, even in these difficult times. We would be delighted if the project were to spread throughout the city and other homeowners were to make a wall available for this innovative art form."

This is also the aim of initiator Kai Schmidt. The versatile Offenbach resident, who has already organized the Comic Nights here, would like to find long-term partners to finance several works of art each year. The city of Mannheim is a role model for this. Since 2013, well-known national and international street artists have been painting murals on building facades throughout the city every summer. The city promotes this art form as the first freely accessible museum for façade art in Baden-Württemberg.

"If we get the chance to implement around three to four works a year in Offenbach, as we do in Mannheim, we could be talking about another museum in Offenbach in a few years' time that could be admired across the entire city. This would further strengthen our reputation as a creative city. International collaborations would be brilliant, for example with lively street art scenes like those that exist in Casablanca."

Alexander Kukla, project initiator and manager of Walls of Vision, is looking forward to the realization of the next mural in Offenbach. "The city of Offenbach is a very attractive location where Case Maclaim will certainly create a great and inspiring work of art. We would like to thank our local cooperation partners and hope that this joint initiative will help to strengthen art in public spaces and promote young talent."

All Offenbach residents are invited to watch the creation of the Case Maclaim mural at Nordring 34 from Tuesday, April 19 to Tuesday, April 26.