Sculptpedia Statues, Busts and Sculptures Park sculptures and installations Ancient World & Antiquity Middle Ages & Renaissance Marble & Other Stones Bronze & Other Metals

Ruhender Verkehr

Ruhender Verkehr is an action sculpture by Wolf Vostell, created in 1969. It consists of a fully concreted-in car, an Opel Kapitän, whose outlines remain roughly simplified and which satirizes the idea of “parked traffic” in public space. After being made between 2 and 13 October 1969, it was shown at several sites, including in Paris and at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie, before moving to Cologne’s Hohenzollernring in 1989. The work is about 15 tons in weight and remains one of Cologne’s best-known public artworks. A restoration was carried out in 2023, while a planned move to a new parking space was delayed.

Ruhender Verkehr, a vehicle covered in a colorful knitted textile blanket on a city street.
Ruhender Verkehr shown as a vehicle wrapped in a colorful knitted covering beside parked cars.
May 2012 © · CC BY-SA 3.0
Ruhender Verkehr, a large concrete sculpture shaped like a sedan, stands on a sidewalk in front of an urban building.
Ruhender Verkehr by Wolf Vostell on a sidewalk in Cologne, with pedestrians and street trees nearby.
April 2010 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ruhender Verkehr, a large weathered concrete block sculpture on a city sidewalk beside a building and bare trees.
Ruhender Verkehr shown on a city street beside the Filmpalast building in Cologne.
January 2025 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ruhender Verkehr sculpture in the center of a wet city street in Cologne, with parked cars and bare trees along the road.
Ruhender Verkehr sits in the middle of a Cologne street beneath an overcast sky.
December 2024 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
A group of people in blue shirts and white hats gathered around a yellow, banana-patterned sculpture covered with a tarp.
People gathered around Ruhender Verkehr during an outdoor event, with the sculpture covered in a banana-patterned tarp.
May 1993 © W.H. Reichel, Köln · CC BY-SA 3.0

Identification

TitleRuhender Verkehr
TypePublic sculpture / action sculpture / plastic

Creator

ArtistWolf Vostell
Construction processA first concrete base was poured, the drivable car was parked on it, then boxed in with wooden plank formwork and reinforced steel, followed by a second concrete pour; on 13 October 1969 a parking meter was placed beside it and the formwork was removed

Historical context

Jubilee eventFor the 50th anniversary of the artwork’s completion, several artists held a birthday celebration on 26 January 2019 with happenings, a video installation, a champagne reception, and a tour of Cologne locations where the sculpture had previously stood
First public announcement2 October 1969
Creation period2 October 1969 to 13 October 1969
Date created1969

Discovery and provenance

Original locationParking space on Domstraße in front of the Art Intermedia gallery, Cologne
Later locationCentral reservation of Hohenzollernring, Cologne
Earlier exhibition locationIn front of the Kölnische Kunsthalle / Museum of Fine Arts Cologne at Josef-Haubrich-Hof, Cologne
Other exhibition locationIn front of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1974–1975; in front of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin
Intended purposeOriginally intended to occupy a parking space
Moved to current site1989

Materials

MaterialsReinforced concrete, steel, wood formwork, and an embedded drivable Opel Kapitän automobile
Car modelOpel Kapitän P 2,6 (also given as Opel Kapitän L), built in 1960
License plateK-HM 175

Physical characteristics

Condition of car at installationIn running condition
Weight15 tons

Appearance

FormThe car’s contours were roughly simplified but remained recognizable
Surface colorDark blue background

Iconography and meaning

ConceptAn ironic reference to stationary traffic (Ruhender Verkehr) that turns a parking-space situation into an artwork

Location and ownership

Current locationCentral reservation of Hohenzollernring, Cologne, Germany
Parking meterA parking meter stands beside the sculpture

History and restoration

Archive donationThe tarp (catalogue no. 93-34138) and photo documents were donated to the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne, inventory no. 1545
Subsequent cover action by Thomas BaumgärtelHe later covered the sculpture with a 6 × 10 m yellow cloth sheet printed with 3,333 black bananas for the installation Kunst auf Kunst, first on 16 May 1993 and repeated in 1994 and 1995
Later intervention by Thomas BaumgärtelOn 17 March 1993, Thomas Baumgärtel sprayed hundreds of bananas on the sculpture; Vostell protested, and the bananas were later removed
Restoration statusThe restoration was carried out, but the relocation initially did not take place because the new location was too narrow
Restoration and relocation planFor autumn 2023, restoration and a move to a parking space in front of the Kölnischer Kunstverein on Hahnenstraße were planned

Significance

Cultural significanceDescribed by Deutschlandfunk Kultur’s Kompressor as the most famous public artwork in Cologne
Public receptionFootball fans also celebrate at the monument and stop traffic

Other

Related workConcrete Traffic (1970) by Wolf Vostell in Chicago, inspired by Ruhender Verkehr; it contained a Cadillac embedded in 20 cm of concrete and was first shown between parked vehicles near the Museum of Contemporary Art, later in the Sculpture Garden of the University of Chicago, and since 2016 on a parking area in a public parking garage on the University of Chicago campus
Related works by VostellZwei Beton-Cadillacs in Form der nackten Maja (1987) in Berlin’s Rathenauplatz; VOAEX (1976) in the Museo Vostell Malpartida, Malpartida de Cáceres, Spain
Related homage workIn 2007 Cornel Wachter cast an A-Class Mercedes in a concrete shell as a homage to Vostell; it stands in front of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn
Related performanceVostell later repeated the performance in Chicago in 1970 under the name Concrete Traffic