#schrebergarten

In 1979, at the age of 24 and while still a student at Folkwang School Essen, Joachim Brohm set out to document the semi-private architecture of the Schreber gardens, the German equivalent to the allotment garden named after the physician Moritz Schreber. Likely inspired by the Bechers’s typologies of industrial architecture Brohm shows the often hand-built houses crowning in all of their variety: sometimes a mere hut, sometimes quite elobrate small houses these buildings and their surrounding gardens are the extended living rooms of their lodgers. Set against the neutral grey sky of the German winter Brohm approaches the houses from the gardens' gates and documents the various forms and shapes of the houses. But in contrast to the Bechers he never solely focuses on the architecture but also shows the interesting details and leftover artifcats present around the houses which tell of the life going on in and around them during spring and summer: footballs, lawn gnomes or simple vegetable beds immerse the viewer in the little stories hidden behind the walls and artifacts that are inextricably connected to the sphere of the Schreber gardens. Some might sniff at these identifiers of a petty bourgeois lifestyle but Brohm documents a grown cultural form that at the moment sees a revival among mostly well-educated urbanites.

The Weather Report: April is a moody guy. But he will fall in love with Lady Spring as soon as she opens her window..... ;-)

The Tale of Two Cities according to Stephi and Heiko – Part 329

In this week’s episode we will show you allotment gardens in Munich and Cologne, as they are called Schrebergarten in Germany. And I will explain you about these gardens by referring to a popular German kid’s television show “Die Sendung mit der Maus”.

It is a television show that features an orange mouse and a purple elephant. It is filled with sketches and also pieces that explain parts of the world and how things work. There is also a piece on the radio each morning, in which kids ask questions and one of them was, why these gardens are called Schrebergarten.

The word stems from a man called Schreber, who lived in the 19th century. When people moved into the cities, there has been little space for children and little for them to do. So, Schreber build small places in which kids could be outside, play but also do some gardening.

Today these Schrebergärten are like some little colonies inside or on the outskirts of the cities, where people hang out, do some gardening and plant fruits or vegetables. The first allotment garden is form Munich, while the second one is form Cologne, right around the corner of my home.