At the beginning of the 1990s, Martin Kippenberger (*1953) developed the idea of building a worldwide underground railway network: METRO-Net. It is one of the artist’s most fascinating projects, which,…

At the beginning of the 1990s, Martin Kippenberger (*1953) developed the idea of building a worldwide underground railway network: METRO-Net. It is one of the artist’s most fascinating projects, which, however, could only be realised in rudimentary form due to his early death in 1997. In 1993, the first underground entrance was opened in Hrousa, a village on the Greek island of Syros. In 1995, this station received an underground exit almost 9,000 km away in the former gold mining town of Dawson City in Canada. more One or more ventilation shafts were to be built to ensure the functionality of this section of the line, which connected Europe with North America. Such a ventilation shaft was put into operation temporarily for the first time during the Skulptur Projekte Münster in the summer of 1997. At the same time, a transportable underground entrance was exhibited at documenta X in Kassel and another underground entrance had been erected on the new Leipzig exhibition grounds shortly before. METRO-Net presents more than 100 exhibits, including models and almost all of Kippenberger’s drawings on the subject of METRO-Net, as well as extensive documentary material from his companions, such as unpublished building plans by the architect Lukas Baumewerd and photographs by Albrecht Fuchs and Elfie Semotan.