“Photography was very powerful in the 1980s. During the time in Mexico, it was an art form that was way more interesting than painting or sculptures. A group of people tried real hard to produce serious photojournalism. I was different, I did not want to become a photographer.”
In 1995, Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco was in Berlin without any friends. He rode on his Schwalbe yellow scooter around everyday; it was a very cheap East German design. He realized that those who rode a Schwalbe would greet each other, so he thought of a game, a game that would make him feel less lonely in a foreign country. Like the game of Pac Man, he made the city his game board. Whenever he met another yellow Schwalbe, they would stop to take a photo together. After 2 to 3 months of time, he took a total of 40 photographs.
This sort of self-developed game which only had one serious player still requires a complete ending. At the time, the streets of Berlin was filled with flyers telling people about different gatherings everywhere. So he placed his own flyers on other people’s scooter seats and silently continued this activity. How was the silence broken at the end? Two “companions” showed up to his party at the end, where they met on the 6th anniversary of Deutsche Wiedervereinigung in front of the parkade at Neue Nationalgalerie. The photograph taken of them was also the last photo in the series of “Until You Find Another Yellow Schwalbe”, where 3 Schwalbe yellow scooters were shown.
