Park Fiction - Generator Hamburg Recommends

A project that started in 1994, ‘Park Fiction’ was devised as an act of dissent against the city, who were planning on using the prime harbour front location to build a private housing and office development. A coalition of artists and residents in St. Pauli – home to Hamburg’s ‘Red Light’ district – decided to make the place into a multi-purpose public space, which features talks, events, basketball courts and more.

The aesthetic decision to opt for full postmodernism – the three fake, inflatable plastic palm trees are its most iconic landmark – was probably inspired by the post-industrial location; and even if it seems out of step with the park’s utopian approach, it did have one good consequence: it, purportedly, inspired Radiohead’s ‘Fake Plastic Trees’.

To get to Park Fiction from Generator Hamburg, take the S1 or S3 from Hamburg HBF five stops to Hamburg Königstraße and walk.