Julie Mia, vanity, 2024

The sites urban ensemble is characterized by a mix of historic industrial buildings and contemporary architecture. Originally built by Frankfurter Brauhaus GmbH in 1908 according to the plans of architect and engineer Anton Landgräber, the brewery was grouped around a central courtyard and is now part of the Rhine-Main Industrial Heritage Route. As a ‚city within the city‘, this quarter today stands for the successful structural transformation of the Hanauer Landstrasse from the industrial axis of eastern Frankfurt to a creative mile of the post-industrial city. The site, which was redeveloped between 1997 and 2000 on the initiative of Ardi Goldman (architect: Michael Landes) now houses numerous offices for the creative industry as well as cultural and event locations such as the ROMANFABRIK, the UNIONHALLE and the FORTUNA IRGENDWO. An art project open to the public is currently being created on the site, involving both young, emerging and internationally renowned artists.

For the Jewish project developer Ardi Goldman, art is a ‚means of survival‘ and is primarily emotional. The selected works reflect central themes of life such as anger, despair, suffering, but also love, humor, generosity and, in particular, an awareness of history and the associated „resistance“ to antisemitism. Here, art acts as an amplifier of knowledge, poses questions about value and morality and becomes a discursive approach to the topic of the city and community. For these reasons, it was decided to modify the paraffin artwork „vanity“ (Ed. 2/3), 2023 by artist Julie Mia as an outdoor sculpture. The knife is one of the few objects that can be found in all human cultures worldwide. Over time, it also developed into an object of art, ritual and jewellery and even a means of payment. From the 18th century onwards, the knife became part of cutlery. Exploring ideas of permanence, transformation and process the artist‘s series of knives reveals this ambiguity within its profane character. Through the medium of wax, sand or recycled PETG the object becomes unusable – it can no longer be used for profane purposes, so to speak, and is reminiscent of the custom of a votive offering; the symbolic separation from one‘s own body, as a means of supplication.

Hanauer Landstraße 188, 60314 Frankfurt am Main

OPENING CEREMONY: to be announced

all images: Julie Mia, vanity (Union Areal), 2024. Courtesy: the artist and Galerie 3AP, Düsseldorf. Photo: Robert Schittko.