NIZA COLLECTIV MATCHBOX MURAL

The great NIZA Kollektiv from Berlin visited us and, within less than a week, realized a top of the wall-filling artwork at Lohstrasse in Chemnitz. Just like in the group's previous works, where murals were created in public spaces in Bremen, Polleur in Belgium, Schildow in Brandenburg, Bornholm, and Berlin, a wall piece was painted based on a miniature model. The small miniature that serves as the model for "Matchbox" was created by the artist Oliver Zabel. Using old matchboxes, Zabel stages object collages whose playful scenes, in relation to their small, rare lithographs, develop surprising shifts in meaning. The artists Daniela and Malte Nickau are working with Oliver on the NIZA concept, on large reproductions of the boxes, which charmingly highlight even small inaccuracies and create a virtuoso painted blow-up of object art.

For this one painted within the HALLENKUNST Mural Art Program the former top-selling export from the Riesa matchbox factory, Bengal Matches "Fire in the Open" is featured in the artwork on the wall and becomes a free-shooting pleasure in a shooting gallery. The understanding of law is suspended by mutual consent; the bolt is free for all. Children, or even the ultimate pacifist, try their hand at hunting the hare, try to "shoot" the rose, the teddy bear, or, as with NIZA, Karl Marx. The dioramas connect to the traditional Ore Mountain folk art of Erzgebirge miniatures.

However, in the 8x3 meter high mural, the matchbox worlds with the 2.5 cm small figures take on something of the distortion we know from Francis Bacon in their translation; eccentricities come to the fore. Spilled and mispainted figures, in the macro translation, flaws and casting holes are presented as equally valid parts of the story and become their own expression of the history that reintegrates itself into the colorful hustle and bustle of the city. Discover this and more works from the series at HALLENKUNST, on display in the Markthalle Chemnitz, from August 28th to August 31st, 2025 for the opening weekend, or during opening hours until September 21st, 2025.