Beyond the Pavement

On this very spot you’re standing in and currently are reading these words, there used to be a creek called the Braubach. This creek was hardly ever one to begin with: First, it served as a moat for the medieval city walls, later it was tasked to be one of the city’s sewers. It hasn’t just vanished, it was, in the late 19th century, contained in underground pipes as it ran out of tasks to perform and became an obstacle in the vast renovations of the Frankfurt Old Town which would come to be known as the New Old Town: This historical street you’re currently located in is just a bit over 100 years old, as it was built in 1904. The buildings you saw on your way were the result of an architectural competition, specifically announced for the renovation of the Old Town - or, as it was called in the official city council documents reporting on the renovations, the “Old Town Convalescence”: Debasing the Old Town with its overflowing medieval houses to an ill body in need of recovery.

Frankfurt, which already in centuries past was famous for its picturesque medieval architecture, weeded those houses out in favour of constructing a new city center, which would be more akin to other European cities at the end of the 19th century. The creek over which you’re presumably standing got buried in order for the New Old Town to get its shape. If you try to look for the creek in the city archives you will find yourself having a hard time: Not only did it sometimes go by a different name (as the “Schueppe”) in some records, but there is hardly anything depicting it. Only if you read between the lines in the City Planning documents can you find implicit mentions, and if you look for anything relating to the former moat you will find three little sketches referencing the creek, drawn by the famous Frankfurt city chronicler Carl Theodor Reiffenstein. But even in these sketches we can find no flowing water, no real trace of the creek, just a reference to it. It is strange how something once integral to the city’s infrastructure, be it as a moat or a sewer, is so hard to find evidence of. A body of water, transformed and buried to serve the needs of the city, almost imperceptible, except for the fact this street, in which you are currently in, carries its name: Braubachstraße.

The Braubach creek is only one case of how in order for the present moment to hold its shape and gain stability certain things are required to be hidden, disappearing, or almost imperceptible. Take a look around and you will find traces of the river partially reflected in the artworks you will come across: Things that have lost their former use trying to find a new shape for themselves, the acts of remembering, repairing and mending as survival strategies. Images of that which we tend to keep hidden below our surfaces, things in the process of disappearing or, on the contrary, things usually imperceptible briefly shining through: Concealed knowledge, hidden forces, inner worlds and fantasies veiled from our eyes in our ordinary everyday.

For “Beyond the Pavement”, 18 Prague-based artists were invited to present their artistic positions. This exhibition constitutes the 2nd part of an artistic exchange between Prague and Frankfurt: In October 2024, 17 Frankfurt-based artists were exhibiting their works in the gallery of the AVU academy in the exhibition “Cacophony”, curated by Natalie Kubikova and Mia Milgrom.