DIE BALKONE
Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg windows
and balconies
Jan Peter Hammer
Black Ball Line (flag), 2006
Jan Peter Hammer's contribution for this (and last) year's Die Balkone is a flag showing a black ball on a red background. The flag is reminiscent of a Liverpool-based shipping company founded in 1817. The Black Ball Line was the first scheduled weekly transatlantic packet shipping service. In Hammer’s The Boy Scout Project (2000–03), the Black Ball Line functions as an allegory for cultural misreadings and the slippery meaning of sings, words, and images.
Jan Peter Hammer
born in Germany, studied painting and sculpture. In 1999 he moved to New York City, where he attended courses at the New School’s Film Theory department and graduated in fine arts from Hunter College. In 2004 he moved back to Berlin, where he currently lives and works. His main interest is in narrative structures. His videos, films, and synchronized slideshows open up a literary context.