Ricarda Mieth

Detail des Gebäudes

Neues Land

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A letter frieze for the once-renowned publishing house building

The concept NEUES LAND refers to the lettering band on the façade of the 8-storey main building and develops a frieze of square, red letter fields for the building.
160 light boxes with individual letters are lined up in the grid of the strictly structured façade above the first floor.

The 2011 installed strip of lettering with quotes from Rosa Luxemburg, Peter Weiss and Karl Marx will be replaced by a sequence of letters that at first glance appear cryptic. Words and syllables are interlocked and can only be partially read without lighting.

The words, alternately highlighted by backlighting, describe wishes and visions for a NEUES LAND [NEW COUNTRY]. On the left-hand side of the façade, words ranging from FUTURE to LUST are illuminated, on the right-hand side from HUMAN to DREAM.

Both formally and in its title, *NEUES LAND* alludes to the distinctive, original lettering on the building’s attic.

The name of the socialist daily newspaper “Neues Deutschland” (1946–1989, the official organ of the SED; today nd) traces its origins to a communist newspaper published in exile in Mexico, which first appeared in 1942–43 as “Alemania Libre” (Free Germany) and, starting in January 1945, as “Nueva Alemania” (New Germany). As early as 1938, Willi Münzenberg gave his last major publication, “Die Zukunft,” the subtitle “A New Germany: A New Europe.”

FMP1 sees itself as a platform for media, political education, and solidarity initiatives, drawing inspiration from Willi Münzenberg.

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