15. Axel Hummert

15. Canary, Design Competition "Designallee Zollverein", Axel Hummert (2009)

In 2009, Axel Hummert and his colleague Silke Tinnefeld won a design competition organised by the city of Essen and the Zollverein Foundation, which focused on turning the 300 metre footpath from the railway station to the UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein into a design avenue.

The designers created birds, that were two metres high, 3.6 metres long and weighed 100 kilogrammes. They were handcrafted from plastic by Ulrich Wiedemann in Lindau, Lake Constance. In earlier times, canaries were used in mining as an early warning system because they are

very sensitive to gases like carbon monoxide. In memory of this vital collaboration between animals and humans, eight oversized, bright yellow canaries can be discovered on the northern part of the Zollverein site.

The canaries were installed as signposts at Zollverein in March 2010, when Essen and the Ruhr region were European Capital of Culture. Since then, visitors have used them to find their way from the railway station Zollverein-Nord to the colliery grounds.