We are Jenny, Joey, Malak, Malik, Samuel, Hala and Celina, the Radijojo holiday reporters and together with the artist Susanne Bosch we are visiting the Paul-Löbe-Haus in the German Bundestag. Susanne Bosch won the competition “Kunst-am-Bau” and shall redesign the Narbarschaftscafé in the youth center. The Haus der Jugend at Nauener Platz is currently being completely renovated. Many artists submitted their ideas for the competition. A jury then decided in favor of Susanne's design. Susanne lives in Wedding and knows our neighborhood very well. Her idea: to design the walls, floors and furniture of the neighborhood café with different mapping/ cartography motives.
But what do cafés designed by artists actually look like? What is the difference to those in which no artist took part? To see that, we're going to visit the Paul Löbe House today. Besides offices and conference rooms, the huge building also houses the Bundestag cafeteria. It was designed by the Cuban artist Jorge Pardo.
Here we are on our way to the cafeteria. In the middle of the picture you can see a yellow crane. It's not always there. But because it's vacation time and many MPs and their employees are on holiday, the time is used to really clean up. The crane is used to clean the windows, you can't get there with a ladder.
Only a few meters away from the Reichstag you will find the Paul-Löbe-Haus. Here we also meet Eva Högl, member of the Bundestag. She takes us through the building with its more than 1000 offices for the members of parliament and the employees of the German Bundestag.
There is a lot of art to see throughout the house.
The Paul-Löbe-Haus was named after the politician Paul-Löbe, Mrs. Högl tells us. Like Ms. Högl, Paul Löbe also belonged to the SPD and was elected the first President of the Reichstag in 1920, when the Weimar Republic was still in existence.
In the cafeteria we immediately discover the many colorful spherical lamps under the ceiling. They were all hand blown. Because of the many lamps, the cafeteria is also called "Lampenladen" by the politicians. Only lunch is taken here. We arrived later, so there is not much going on anymore.
The large windows let in a lot of natural light. And you have a great view of the Spree and passing ships.
Susanne has come up with tasks for us: we have to write down everything we see and discover on various route cards.
How many chairs, tables and especially lamps are there? Are there shelves in the cafeteria and what is in there? And how do we like the cafeteria?
Mit Frau Högl gehen wir dann in einen der vielen Konferenzräume im Paul-Löbe-Haus. Hier treffen sich sonst die Politiker und beraten z.B über neue Gesetze.
Together with Ms. Högl we then go to one of the many conference rooms in the Paul-Löbe-Haus. Politicians usually meet here and discuss new laws, for example.
Ms. Högl also lives in Wedding. And that's exactly what we want to learn more about.
Why did she decide to live in Wedding? What can she do to make Wedding neater? What are her favorite places?
We have prepared a "Liporello". Ms. Högl always has to choose one concept:
Doner kebab or fries, wedding or Köpenick, man or machine, costume or sweatpants...
The Holiday Reporters together with Eva Högl, Heike from Haus der Jugend Susanne Bosch.
After the interview, Ms. Högl leads us through the tunnel that connects the Paul-Löbe-Haus with the Reichstag. Unfortunately we can't visit the Reichstag dome this time, because cleaning is going on there as well. But Ms. Högl promised us that we could come back. We are already looking forward to that.
In the tunnel you can learn a lot about German history.
We take our leave from Eva Högl and say thank you very much for allowing us to be guests at the Paul-Löbe-Haus not to mention for the great interview.
Many thanks also to Susanne Bosch and Daniel Schwarz for the expedition’s superior organization
We have all enjoyed it enormously.
Last but not least a big shout of gratitude towards Heike and Heiko from Haus der Jugend, who brought us all together.
