Bright yellow behind bars

Pforzheim is currently home to an unusual sight: Visible from afar, a bright yellow house stands on a hill. Even more peculiar is the oversized cage around it and a large sign with the words “feeding forbidden!” Has a detached house taken on the role of a giant canary? The artist behind the action is Andreas Sarow from Pforzheim, who is using his installation “Das bedrohte Haus” (The threatened house) to make a statement against monotonous areas of single-family homes and for new concepts in housing construction.

“The threatened house” is a small abandoned hut on the outskirts of Pforzheim. Just a few weeks ago, nobody took any notice of it, as dense vegetation surrounded the ghost house. However, when clearing work began at the beginning of the year to build a single-family home development on the site, the building suddenly found itself standing alone in the middle of nowhere. Due to its lonely location and exposed position, Andreas Sarow became aware of the building.

For Sarow, houses are more than just functional buildings: the contemporary artist has already redesigned buildings several times to transform them into objects of art for a short time. For example, he has transformed a commercial building in the old town of Constance into a “Way of Life Calculator”, with the windows turned into oversized calculator keys labeled with important aspects of life. In another case, he painted a Pforzheim Art Nouveau villa a deep black overnight, creating strong contrasts with the surrounding buildings.

Sarow also focuses on contrasts in the “threatened house”: The art installation immediately catches the eye with its bright yellow hue and its elevated position within the cleared lunar landscape. The cage reinforces the feeling of having a living being in front of you that needs to be protected. In fact, the project is intended to make a statement against the clear-cutting and monotony of modern single-family housing estates. Instead, Andreas Sarow wants new concepts in housing construction and advocates free and organic architecture.