Benrather Str. | Thomas Stricker

On February 22, the six new subway stations on the Wehrhahn Line in Düsseldorf were officially opened. This extraordinary project was realized after 15 years of collaboration between architects, artists, engineers, and city officials.

The Benrather Straße subway station, with the project name “Heaven Above, Heaven Below,” was designed by installation artist Thomas Stricker. The entire mezzanine level, measuring approximately 70 x 15 m, recreates the interior of a spaceship. Six large-format video walls are integrated into the metal wall surfaces, offering a view of our Milky Way, its planets, and celestial bodies. The six animations form a continuous film that is synchronized across the six windows in such a way that it creates the illusion of a space journey. This creates the impression that the entire station is flying through space. The work brings the heavens down to Earth, reverses up and down, and transforms the heavy into the light. The vastness of the universe is transferred into the confines of the underworld. The architecture appears to become mobile, like a spaceship journeying through infinite expanses.

235 MEDIA designed the media technology, integrated the playback system, and produced the animations in collaboration with Thomas Stricker.

Detailed press reports from The New York Times and the Süddeutsche Zeitung can be found at these links.

The New York Times

Süddeutsche Zeitung

PARTNERS:

Artistic Concept and Realization: Thomas Stricker

Architecture: netzwerkarchitekten, Darmstadt

Media Planning, Film Production: 235 MEDIA, Cologne

Client: City of Düsseldorf

Photos: Thomas Stricker