Train Station Angels, IBA Basel, Badischer Bahnhof

The beautiful Arte Noveau station, Badischer Bahnhof in Basel, built 1913 by Architect Karl Moser, dons tall, powerful and stunning facades and halls. Above its central entrance four large stone carved figures represent the four seasons and stone animals create a fountain directly before the entrance.

Sculptural figures lie therefore in the genes of the train station, forming the point of departure for the temporary sound installation by landscape architects Studio Vulkan and Robin Winogrond. The project was initiated by the City of Basel within the framework of the International Building exposition IBA Basel 2021, a collaboration of Switzerland, France and Germany.

Six abstract angels, each with their own personality, reflect personalties of everyday visitors found in the station: “The Angel of Dreaming”, “The Angel of Solitude”, “The Angel of Speed”, “The Angel of Observation”, “The Angel of Greeting”, und “The Angel of Joy”. The three meter high figures harken into the minds of passersbys and tell us travel stories, in a series of languages each from their particular perspectives.

The project interacts with the social life of the station on the frontier between Switzerland and Germany, in an elegant building between rushing commuters, neighbors, drifters, the lonely, refugees, voyeurs, and the homeless.

With a twist of humor the figures seem related to classical sculpture yet done on a small budget and timeframe. At once curious and charming, frozen and moving, dreamy and friendly, the angels accompany the visitor from the 15 meter high decorative main hall to the 9 meter high long hall to the underpass leading to the tracks. Their forms are dynamic, transforming with each step we take. The constraints of the train station from view corridors of surveillance cameras, escape routes or garbage cans to hydrants, advertising and signage allowed for the figures only to occupy the edges of rooms.

The storytelling, in ten languages juxtiposed on an atmospheric soundscape, offer observations, monologues, lyrik, and anecdotes. They transport us to foreign lands and situations. In a “Scenography of the Invisable”, the angels allow us to drift along into the social, architectural and atmospheric world of train station life.