Dr. Bernhard van Treeck CHRISTIAN HASUCHA "The 'production-presentation-depot' model has become obsolete." (Hasucha) In the middle of a busy intersection near the Yorck Bridges in Berlin, a man walks high atop a concrete plinth. He is dressed casually and carries a briefcase. He walks briskly, undeterred, yet makes no progress. Pedestrians stream around him. Passersby take note of the man with a sense of unease. If there were a statue on the plinth, it would be a monument. But living monuments don't exist, do they? Performance artists, whose presence on Berlin's wide promenades has become commonplace, and whose movements are not always readily understood, generally don't bring a concrete block with them. The walking man doesn't seem to be doing any kind of event marketing for anything, like briefcases; there's no indication of a product. So, the more astute among the sidewalk users think, it must be art. And they're right. It's the project "Herr Individual geht" (Mr. Individual, walking), which the Berlin artist Christian Hasucha realized in 1987 not only in Berlin but also in Frankfurt am Main, Cologne, and Pécs (Hungary) etc. Where other artists peddle their work with explanatory texts or at least define it as a work of art with a small brass plaque indicating the creator and title, Hasucha leaves the viewer to grapple with it alone, without comment or explanation. Quite audacious. In today's service-oriented society, we're used to being immediately provided with everything we need. But here, any information that might facilitate access is completely absent. Having to think for oneself is no longer seen as an opportunity but as a provocation. Hasucha is challenging: here, the viewer has to think for themselves, otherwise they get nothing out of the artwork. "Mr. Individual, walking" is a reflection of a pose frozen in standardized movement, a pose without a destination. Hasucha vividly confronts passersby with the essence of their everyday lives by cutting out a simple event and presenting it as an example at a height of 2.5 meters. Only those who understand the artwork and critically apply the insights to their own daily lives can truly benefit from it. Before you know it, you, as the viewer, are part of the artwork. Christian Hasucha is not a sculptor in the conventional sense. Anyone attempting to approach him with a classical method will fail. While his temporary interventions in public space are three-dimensional, they extend far beyond sculpture in the usual sense. They demand engagement. You can walk around them, look at them, touch them, and in some cases, even experience them acoustically. However, you won't experience the artwork in its entirety in this way. If the viewer's perception is sufficiently heightened, it gradually takes shape in their mind. It appears differently to each viewer. There, too, it is not a static construct but is subject to constant change. Christian Hasucha's art serves as a catalyst for thought processes that, ideally, continue long after the interventions have been removed. When, in his installation "Radio," Hasucha subjects a Kreuzberg courtyard to a constant acoustic barrage, the source of which can only be located after a considerable search, this has much to do with his feeling for the atmosphere of this district. A certain level of noise, consisting of Turkish music, children's shouts, barking dogs, and televisions already running at midday, is always present here in the summer and symbolizes a vibrancy that is often lacking in other parts of the city. It is no coincidence that Hasucha chose July for this installation. The sounds, taken for granted and therefore often no longer perceived, are brought to the viewer's attention by the installation "Radio." And perhaps it is only through this that the viewer learns what actually makes these courtyards so special. In his choice of materials and artistic approach, Hasucha's affinity with Joseph Beuys is clearly evident. The approach in "Score" is similar. Here, too, Hasucha is concerned with making the special nature of everyday situations transparent. He mixes construction noise with rhythms created by musical instruments. This may not be new; bands like Einstürzende Neubauten were already doing this in the late seventies. However, the context in which Christian Hasucha presents this everyday music is entirely different. He chooses a parking lot with a wooden scaffold that isn't immediately recognizable as part of an artwork. Once again, the viewer is challenged. They must construct a coherent concept from the wooden scaffold, construction noise, instrumental music, and urban setting, a concept that unites the parts into a whole. In doing so, they might discover the musical, and therefore stimulating, qualities of the construction noise, which is otherwise often perceived as disruptive. They might recognize that conceptual distinctions like that between music and noise exist only in our minds and are not real. A multitude of thought experiments are conceivable. Christian Hasucha is more than just an artist. Like a natural scientist, he continuously studies human perception and experience. His artworks, if they can even be called that, play with the mechanisms by which humans experience their environment. Nothing is taken for granted. Public space is experienced as a constantly changing organism that never reverts to a previously achieved state. Chaos and order within this space are in constant alteration, a process Hasucha makes explicit. He works within and with a system that Beuys once termed "social sculpture." Note: With short, purely descriptive texts accompanying the intervention, often found outside the immediate context of the event, such as in publications or art venues, Hasucha opens access to a new experience of the city. These descriptions of his actions are written by Hasucha himself and have been reproduced unchanged as captions. Christian Hasucha: "Radio": A radio-like concrete housing is placed in a hidden corner of a courtyard. A built-in cassette recorder plays a loop of a short musical sequence continuously for four weeks. Christian Hasucha: "Score": In an open space within the city, the components of a 5-meter-high wooden bridge section are nailed together. Through the participation of several craftsmen/musicians, percussive sequences are created and recorded in stereo. On subsequent days, these sequences are played back via two loudspeakers mounted on the bridge. From a suitable vantage point, the individual hammer blows can be acoustically traced back to their points of origin, shifting from chaotic construction noise to rhythmic, concert-like percussion sequences. Christian Hasucha: "Mr. Individual, walking" (Performer: Rainer Homann): A treadmill, driven by a powerful electric motor, is installed in the upper section of a 2.40-meter-high concrete shaft. A normally dressed man walks on this treadmill, which is set to a brisk walking pace, carrying an everyday object. The performance, lasting several hours, takes place over four weeks during rush hour. The installation is located near a busy sidewalk in the city center.