The snack bar is an expression of hectic urban life, but also a transitory site of communication where people congregate, usually at night, for beer and currywurst. We work with this brief, communicative stop and transform it into an artistic situation.
Sound interaction:
Two directional loudspeakers mounted on the wagon generate a wide-ranging sound field. This snack bar sound is generated live in a computer and can be changed by interactions. On front of the wagon is a sensor. If someone passing by comes within its range, the sound changes into speech interaction. After the person moves out of range, the snack bar sound spreads again.
Speech interaction:
When passers-by quickly walk through the sensor range, a voice from the front loudspeaker speaks to them in Berlin dialect. In quasi-dialogue interaction, the wagon broadcasts single words or sentences that allude to the psychosocial and political aspects of the immediate situation. Especially some stories of the owners life, Tina Volkhardt, can be heard with her original voice: her experiances with the fall of the wall (her origin is East Germany), her unemployment after her last work, her thinking about life - or just shouting, giggling and whistling. But the snack bar also treats itself as an art object at the sonambiente festival and offers to be „real interactive“ in an art installation.
Installation site:
The wagon of Tina did many years of service as a grill at the construction site of the former GDR State Council building, and now, again, it takes up position within view of the present-day ESMT Management School. On the right side there is located the ruin of the „Palast der Republik“ (the former GDR parliament). At night the wagon glows from within, so that the sound and the light combine to create a certain atmosphere. Here it stands in exciting contrast to its surroundings: Schlossplatz in the centre of Berlin. Its colour: Red.