CLAUDIA HEINRICH CHRISTIAN HASUCHA Headfirst through the table In a small German town near Hannover, in the middle of an ordinary chip shop, stands a small table; it is the center of the world... The whole world? No, but certainly the center of Langenhagen. This is how Christian Hasucha, a Cologne-based artist, elevated it. As part of the project "vor ort - Kunst in städtischen Situationen " (On-site - Art in Urban Situations), initiated in 1992 by the Langenhagen Cultural Office, he chose the piece of furniture as the centerpiece of his contribution, "Ebene Tisch" ("Level Table"). Since September 1993, the little table has been able to feel important; Hasucha replaced its worn, circular Formica top with a polished granite one, commissioned a survey to determine its exact height above sea level, and wrapped the edge with black and white checkered barrier tape. Using identical bands, he marked all 5,000 streetlights in Langenhagen at tabletop height, i.e., at 52,301 meters above sea level. Depending on the pole's location and the curvature of the ground, the marking is sometimes at knee level, sometimes almost buried in the ground, and sometimes above head height. To those in the know - and all Langenhagen households were informed via an informational letter - Christian Hasucha's intervention provides an undidactic lesson in relativity: he proves that knowledge and perception are not necessarily congruent and exposes the seemingly completely flat landscape as undulating. The table height, as a newly defined primal measure, dictates itself to the entire urban area; it becomes the reference height. And the snack bar's standing table becomes the base of a conceptual sculpture spanning several square kilometers - an imaginary surface that horizontally bisects Langenhagen and its passersby. Amidst the amusingly audacious placement and the delight arising from the discrepancy between the profanity of an object in an unpretentious setting and the lofty realms of art and its reception, lies the serious core of the work; Hasucha's interest revolves around the dichotomy of individual/public, around the subjective perception of (public) spaces and one's own existential conditions. Thus, the table's dominance is not an arbitrary decision - after all, it embodies qualities that predestine it for this elevated position: due to its small tabletop diameter and its function of providing support for the intimate act of eating, it symbolizes an enclave of privacy amidst the everyday hustle and bustle of a semi-public space. One can almost construct a metaphorical link between the central significance of the permanently installed table and the individual's potential ability to impose a subjective standard on the outside world from a fixed standpoint, with a secure inner stance, and quite casually to play a central role. "Level Table" conveys to the discerning pedestrian an unexpected experience of their own physicality in relation to space: since a connection can be quickly established between the reference height marker and the starting point of the table, and thus the area traversed can be experienced as an imagined extension of the tabletop, the work compels the viewer to constantly define themselves, their own position, in relation to the table's height. "Level Table" conveys the perception of one's own existence. Since the early 1980s, Christian Hasucha has been making temporary interventions in urban environments - often in the periphery, far removed from art market structures and their locations. Permanent sculptural alterations wear down perception; his works unfold rather incidentally, their components have a referential character and are often merely tools or mediators of the intended meaning. They usually nestle unannounced, uncommented upon, and stealthily into everyday life, stirring up irritation and curiosity, and then disappearing quite unpretentiously after a while. Hasucha's "Public Interventions (Events, Urban Implants, Attribute Sculpture)" revolve around people in space; the aim is to wrest the actual urban exterior and its material world from the appropriation of the media world and to reclaim the purely functional exterior as a manageable, consciously experienced, and factual living space. Methodologically, he moved away from sculpture in the traditional sense toward the staging of actions performed by associates, the construction of objects that refer to others belonging to the surrounding space, and of aids and tools that interested recipients can use. His urban art, which he has been creating in a continuous series since 1981, touches on two main themes: communication and isolation. Model situations, which Hasucha exposes through choreographic interventions in everyday scenarios, invite interpersonal contact. For example, "MR. INDIVIDUAL" (1987) consists of a man walking for several hours a day for four weeks on a 2.40-meter-high concrete plinth, maintaining a steady, brisk pace on an electric treadmill - seemingly in place. The scene simulates normality; the man is dressed "normally," carries an ordinary object in his hand, and is not significantly different from all the passersby below his elevated platform. The model of the passerby, simply placed one level higher - a mischievous parody of everyday life and simultaneously an existential metaphor for meaninglessness. No casual observer can escape the provocative presentation of habitual activity. Left alone by the artist, the individual will - depending on their temperament - follow the urge to communicate about the unsettling situation. This was also the intense reaction to the performance "NOW" (1989/90). According to the artist's instructions, a performer sits every evening for several weeks on a highly visible rooftop in the middle of the city. Following their impulses, they illuminate a box next to their chair by pressing a button, revealing the word "NOW" in enormous, die-cut letters. A sublime vantage point, a detached word, an exposed moment - enigmatic for the strolling passerby, as no connections, not even its belonging to the art context, are apparent. Out of bewilderment, imaginative explanations arise, such as speculations about suicidal intentions or references to something that must be sought. And lively discussions ensue; imperceptibly, the viewer thus reclaims public space as a place for verbal exchange. Another form of artistic work leads far away from the communicative environment, towards exposed locations of concentration and contemplation. On his year-long EXPEDITION LT 28 E (1991/92), which he undertook as part of his public interventions with a versatilely equipped workshop van through the fringes of Europe, he exposed, for example, marginal details from architectural contexts in Trondheim, Norway - details that languish neglected in everyday life, languishing at the edge of perception. At some distance from the chosen "URBAN ICON," he affixed a simple metal plate from which he punched out the exact outline of the object to be isolated, thus channeling the viewer's gaze: the riddle of the plates with their peculiar cutouts is to be solved when the curious pedestrian moves through the space until they find the one precise spot that aligns the focused detail with the empty space in the plate. A chimney or lamppost appears on the other side of this visual gateway. The senses for the small things on the periphery are sharpened. The more Hasucha's works relate to the expansive, diffuse spaces of everyday life, the more clearly he marks fixed locations as starting points for reception - from a small or large, circular point of standing, sitting, or reference, the senses of perception can expand. Following a 5-meter-high steel platform for urban environments, whose platform a single person can enter alone in the evening and gaze out while accompanied by a sound installation, "OVER THE CITY" (1991) (where feelings of solitude mingle with sublimity), Hasucha has initiated a recent pedestal work that is less pathos-laden and more grounded: "INTERVENTION P" (Cologne 1993, Heilbronn and Graz 1994). The artist offered interested people the opportunity to install specially made, round miniature platforms, approximately 20 cm high, on a lamppost in their everyday surroundings. The client (or a stranger who happens upon the object) stands on it for a self-chosen amount of time each day, becoming a sculpture on a pedestal, standing serenely above their everyday situation - both literally and figuratively. And then they move on. What remains, even after the pedestal is removed, is a lasting, personal impression of the exposed location and the moments of enjoying a clear, reflective perspective. All of Hasucha's conceptual works leave such a lasting impact because they are neither dispensable pieces of street furniture nor difficult to digest. Rather, they subtly and casually creep directly into everyday life and into individual perception, where they translate into thought processes. And these can then even (as in the case of Langenhagen) lead right through a snack bar table. And far beyond. Cf. Project documentation No. 18: Level Table