Hotel Matze

111 posters for Alexanderplatz

“Imagine you had a big billboard at Alexanderplatz. What should be on it?”

That’s what host Matze Hielscher asks his guests at the end of each episode of the German interview podcast series Hotel Matze.

On behalf of the real estate developer Hines, Kinzo teamed up with Hotel Matze to design a construction fence along a vacant lot between Alexanderstraße and Alexanderplatz in Berlin. The project lists 111 answers from a total of 111 podcast guests – from Atze Schröder to Juli Zeh.

Almost 200 guests have visited Matze´s studio in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district since production began in 2016. Olaf Scholz comes to Hotel Matze, as do Nora Tschirner, Toni Kroos and Kurt Krömer. The conversations are always different and always very personal. Only one element remains the same in every episode: the last question, about the poster at Alexanderplatz.

The project, in bright rainbow colors, is intended to reflect both the diversity of the surrounding area and the many different voices behind the project.

“When juxtaposing the different answers, a kind of call character and guidance becomes apparent in the statements of my guests. How can we become better as a society, what is important for all of us? The project provides a lot of impulses and ideas, and of course it looks great.” Matze Hielscher

The fence has a length of 111 meters and shows a total of 111 quotes. It is to be on display on site until at least 2023. Hines is planning to build a high-rise on the vacant site in the center of the Alexanderplatz area.

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Photographed by Daniel Hinz (Portrait Matze Hielscher) and Sebastian Dörken.

Video by Julian Regensburger