Discarded parts of private furniture like tabletops, bookshelves or cabinet doors, which have been disposed in public space in the area of Berlin district Neukölln, as well as material which originates from the cellars or attics of the district’s residents, has been transformed into a 126sqm ‘social floor covering’. The walk-on installation 'NEUKÖLLNER SOZIALPARKETT' was presented in 2010 the museum of Berlin-Neukölln.

From March Until December 2011 The Installation 'NEUKOELLNER SOZIALPARKETT' Found A Temporary Refugium At Berlin MALZFABRIK.

In 2012 the 'NEUKÖLLNER SOZIALPARKETT' Became a part of the collection Of Berlinische Gallerie.

the city | the waste

927‘601 tons of household garbage and bulky waste has been disposed in Berlin in 2007. Some 1000 tons can be found in the streets of Neukölln: Wheter you’re looking for shoes or sofas you’ll find them in public space as witnesses to the faded beauty of consumption.

These devaluated materials lay a trail through the the district and refer to the inhabitants. Ugly and anoying on the one hand, fascinating and suggestive on the other hand, the wooden ‘debris of existences’ have been collected over a period of several months. An empty shop, the so called OKERSTUBE, served as a warehouse of the collected materials as well as a place of communication with the inhabitans.

All materials are documentated on the sites found items and donations.

On the 'Social Partquet'

Parquet floors were highly valued and earned attention at all times. In Europe by the 17th century, masters had achieved perfection in producing art parquet.
For centuries wooden parquet floors were desirable products available only to the rich. Beside the applied function of a floor covering, parquet is a field of social representation. Through the introduction of standard production it became affordable for almost all social ranks. But still nowadays a parquet floor is something exquisite, the experience of a touch of luxury.
In a metaphoric and linguistic sense it stands for social acceptance and personal or professional success.

Produced by the cheap materials of modern furniture production, comprising 85 per cent laminated pressboard and 15 per cent real wood of all types, the NEUKÖLLNER SOZIALPARKETT transformes the idea of social acceptance in a walk on sculpture, telling a multitude of stories of the inhabitants of Berlin Neukölln.

> Catalogue text 'Symphony of Woods' by Michaela Nolte