Art in transcultural exchange
"I say hip, you say hop." Everyone joins in the DJ's call. Lines by Notorious B.I.G., Grandmaster Flash and the Sugarhill Gang echo from the speakers. You can feel the bass in your whole body. The dance floor is packed. People are standing on the stairs, all moving to hip-hop highlights from the past five decades. Anyone expecting a quiet evening at the opening of an art exhibition was in for a surprise at “THE CULTURE. Hip-Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century”. It was loud, glittering and everything that 50 years of hip-hop promises.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the SCHIRN is dedicating a large interdisciplinary exhibition to hip-hop and its profound influence on contemporary art and culture in our society. Anyone visiting the exhibition these days, after the opening party is over, will be able to enjoy it in peace. Still, it is worth bringing your smartphone and headphones. QR codes on the artworks will allow you to listen to the songs to which they refer. More than one hundred artworks are on display, including paintings, photographs, sculptures, and videos, as well as fashion and vinyl, by internationally renowned contemporary artists. Well-known artists include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lauren Halsey, Julie Mehretu, Tschabalala Self, Arthur Jafa, Khalil Joseph, Virgil Abloh, and Gordon Parks. THE CULTURE was organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Saint Louis Art Museum and is presented in cooperation with the SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT. The exhibition traveled from the United States to Germany aboard Lufthansa Cargo. | The challenge of transporting art is that it involves the mobilization of unique, irreplaceable cultural assets. As a result, the artworks must be handled and protected with the utmost care. Each piece has a unique structure, material composition and delicate surface, making the preparation and execution of the transport an extremely demanding task. In addition, factors such as temperature, humidity and vibration play a crucial role, as they can damage the artwork during transport. Therefore, transporting art requires specialized planning, packaging, and logistics to ensure that they arrive safely at their destination.
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The B777 freighter transported a total of 62 packages and 14640 kg of art from Chicago, the logistical heart of the US, to Lufthansa Cargo's hub in Frankfurt in the center of Europe. "A shipment of this size is not standard. We look at a shipment of this scale as a project, not just an AWB shipment. The preparations in advance, the transport itself, the storage in our ARTcube and the delivery are precisely timed and planned," explains Georg Csiky, Global Industry Development Manager at Lufthansa Cargo.
The ARTcube at the Lufthansa Cargo Center in Frankfurt is the perfect storage location for art and valuable goods. It is specially designed to meet the climatic and security requirements. The artworks spent several days in the ARTcube until they were transported to SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE.
Loading the 62 packages into a truck at the Lufthansa Cargo Center was like playing Tetris. The packages varied greatly in size and weight. The smallest package measured 109 x 89 x 36 cm and weighed 58 kg. The largest package towered over everything at 361 x 33 x 234 cm, and there was also a real heavyweight at 593 kg. "For pieces of this size, transportation in a freighter is the only option," explains Kai Nissen, Head of Aviation and Security Services at CS4Art. CS4Art specializes in the transport of art and ships around 1000 tons of art around the world every year.
"Lufthansa Cargo offers us two main advantages: The experts and the network. In Lufthansa Cargo's handling department, there are supervisors that I have known since 1999. They know exactly what our customers and we need, and what is important to handle fine art shipments in air freight. And Lufthansa Cargo's network is second to none. Nobody has as many connections to and from Europe as the cargo crane," says Kai Nissen on the day of loading, before he has to go back to work. They were looking for a box with a width of about 130 cm. This would fit perfectly into the free space in the truck. | There are special trucks for transporting art. They are equipped with air conditioning, air suspension and various possibilities to straps and fastenings for the works of art in the most secured way. After a smooth arrival at the SCHIRN in downtown Frankfurt, the exhibition was set up for visitors within six days and opened on February 28.
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At the opening of the exhibition, Dr. Sebastian Baden, Director of the SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE , also spoke about art on the move: “For the first time this exhibition, THE CULTURE, presents hip hop as global phenomenon and highlights it’s influence on our current artistic and cultural landscape. Thanks to the support of Lufthansa Cargo, it was possible to organize transportation for this extraordinarily relevant international exhibition project more sustainable.”
The SCHIRN used two measures to transport the artworks for THE CULTURE in a sustainable way: 30% of the calculated CO2 emissions were reduced using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). A further 70% of the calculated CO2 emissions were offset through contributions to high-quality climate protection projects. Lufthansa Cargo offers its customers both options to the extent desired. Lufthansa Cargo CEO Ashwin Bhat was also present at the opening of the exhibition: “It's been a pleasure for Lufthansa Cargo to be the logistic partner of the SCHIRN for their exhibition THE CULTURE. The artwork has been transported via our hub in Chicago to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt, the ARTcube, which is a special warehouse for the artwork has been utilized before the artwork has moved to the SCHIRN. And most important, this artwork was transported sustainably. What a great partnership. Good luck for the exhibition." | After visiting the exhibition, he added: "I don't often have the opportunity to physically experience something that we have transported. To experience these fragile works of art in person here, knowing the expertise and organization behind the transport, also fills me with pride to be part of this work." Carolin Gerstenmaier, Head of Industry Development at Lufthansa Cargo, was also enthusiastic: "This exhibition today, where we are standing at the opening event, is again a great example of Fine Arts being transported in a perfect way with Lufthansa Cargo. What makes this exhibition and the transportation of the artworks even more special is that they are transported in a CO2 compensated way using sustainable aviation fuel combined with other forms of compensation. So today we are not only looking back, taking a glimpse on 50 years of hip hop, but we are also looking forward to a future oriented way of making artwork available to the public by transporting it around the globe in a sustainable way.”
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