m a s s s t a b s s p r u n g

Bigness vs. Smallness.
The project "Massstabssprung" [leap of scale] shows the small exhibition and concept space multi.trudi which is operated by media artist Stefan Beck. Beck mirrors his work very strongly against the specific local conditions of culture production. In Frankfurt, BIGNESS is considered to be a metaphor for BEING GLOBAL; is that the reason why multi.trudi is so small? And where does the name "multi.trudi" come from? Is it an ironical interpretation of the Frankfurt label "multikulti"? Maybe. Stefan Beck's CD "Music for bank clerks" (style: noize) is less ambiguous.

Field diary entry: "The multi.trudi is a challenge for its visitors. It is unwieldy and headstrong, not easily palatable, out-of-the-ordinary. Just the walk there - on foot along Osthafenbecken, many hundred metres on a dimly lit street towards Offenbach. Where on earth may this place be? Finally arrived - identification is an illuminated roof-mounted M - one is not sure whether one may just simply enter this minibuilding. It appears to be private, almost intimate. An old radio set, fixed outside on the door, utters strange noises - an aerial is sitting on the roof. Has a UFO possibly landed there? The noise gets louder upon entering: "Music for Bank Clerks".

Sound: Sampling from Stefan Beck:
Musik für Bankangestellte.

Between scrapyards, abandoned warehouses and newly-built posh lofts artist Stefan Beck has been operating a headstrong exhibition and concept space in Frankfurt's East End since 1997. A former gatekeeper's lodge - single-storeyed, single-room, all of 10 sqm small - serves as a flexibly usable place for "pleasure and information". Events range between club, gallery and seminar room: DJ house gigs, bar sale, sake bar, exhibitions, reading and magazine corner, videotheque, Internet page, guest lectures, discussion rounds. The name of the location: multi.trudi.

multi.trudi sounds almost like "multikulti", a label Frankfurt likes to embellish itself with since the city has a nearly 30 % proportion of foreigners. This fact was used by the city in 1989 to establish the only municipal "Office for Multicultural Affairs" (AMKA) in all of Germany. The office with the colourful name was then chaired by a not less colourful personality: ("red") Daniel Cohn-Bendit, known from the Paris student revolt and former flat mate of Joschka Fischer, who lives today in posh Frankfurt West End. Conclusion from this brief anecdote: Frankfurt is alternative; Frankfurt is a byword for "multikulti". This shall suffice as regards external perception.

The very name multi.trudi seems to treat the image cultivation of the city of Frankfurt and its inhabitants with irony. Multiculturalism sounds colourful, vibrant, heterogeneous. Every city likes to embellish itself with such attributes. But does a large variety of cultures really live together in Frankfurt's day-to-day routine? Maybe. In Gallus quarter or in the Bahnhofsviertel [station district] or completely elsewhere. Multicultural living together is rarely low-conflict, mostly not much romantic but - if successful - extraordinary profitable for everybody involved. But this is not the point. The question raised is rather about a possible staging of "multikulti" in the colourful AMKA calendars.

In winter 1998/99 DAM in Frankfurt put on an exhibition titled "Maßstabssprung. Die Zukunft von Frankfurt am Main." [Leap of scale. The Future of Frankfurt.] The main question: How will the appearance of THE German financial metropolis change with the growing together of Europe and world markets globalisation? The answer: Frankfurt is facing a LEAP OF SCALE.

Those who know Frankfurt first think, when hearing "leap of scale", of a vertical quantum leap: above all one is aiming high - the next generation of skyscrapers has been planned. "Bigness" is the magic word which becomes a metaphor for a metropolitan city. Frankfurt wants to rid itself of its often alluded provincialism with the highest possible skyscraper density.

Size DOES matter. Correct. Also in an inverted sense: As shown by 10 sqm "large" multi.trudi. The forced smallness of the room - a low rent ensures its financial independence and experimental character - becomes the multi.trudi concept: since everything takes place in one room it will simply have to be designed variably enough. The atmosphere of narrowness and privacy induces a special relationship among visitors: active participation in any event, not passive "being there" is asked.

"Friends often ask me: why do you stay in Frankfurt? This is not an art-town; there are no galleries, no cultural activities, nothing, but bank towers and business malls. But that is exactly what i like about Frankfurt. The absence of "real art" indicates to me that this is the place of real power. Take Berlin for example, a town which many people consider to be friendly to art and artists ("a lot of atmosphere", "the opposite to frankfurt"...). But this kind of "atmosphere" is nothing but fake; they simply let art grow there, because it does not hurt, and the real power is elsewhere. In Frankfurt, people feel art as a real threat, that's why banks AND police are so crazy about it. Because art is lost in this town it is the only place where art can exist." (www.thing-frankfurt.de)