30 illustrators create stickers for show at new Hamburg gallery Raum für Illustration

30 illustrators will exhibit their work in sticker format at the first group show at new Hamburg gallery Raum für Illustration, due to open on Friday (30 August). Kyle Platts, Adam Higton, Jordy van den Nieuwendijk, Sujin Kim, Igor Bastidas and Wakana Yamazaki are among the huge group of international artists that have created work for the show, called It’s Sticky.

The exhibition has been organised by Beate Pietrek, the art director of Zeit Campus, the student magazine of German newspaper Die Zeit, and Philipp Schultz, art director of Zeit Leo, Die Zeit’s kids magazine. Both art directors are on a year-long sabbatical from their jobs to launch Raum für Illustration, which is both their creative studio, a gallery and a space for workshops. Raum für Illustration, which literally translates as “space for illustration”, can also be read as the command “Give illustration more space!” – the mission of the new venture.

“Stickers are the little voice of a city,” Philipp and Beate tell It’s Nice That about the decision to choose the sticker format for the first group show. “They are not as eye-catching as a posters or as loud as billboards, but they are many and all are whispering to your eyes on your way through the city.” The duo’s studio is located in a very lively part of Hamburg called St. Pauli, which is famous for its red light district. “Everything here is tagged with stickers: house entrances, street masts, trash cans, electrical boxes,” the pair explain. “Everything is full of small messages. Some are political, a lot of them are just quick ideas somebody wanted to communicate.”

12 countries are represented by the artists in the show, which also includes work by Cynthia Kittler, Jan Buchczik, Sara Andreasson, Nadine Redlich, Anna Haifisch, Annu Kilpeläinen, Nolan Pelletier, Sebastian König and many, many more.

Artists were free to do whatever they wanted within a round circle at a size just under ten centimetres. “Some play with the shape itself, some artworks are very striking and flashy, some are more quiet,” says Beate and Philipp. “They all transmit a broad diversity of personal and universal messages and stand for all the individual styles and skills of the artist.” Visitors to the exhibition will be able to take stickers from the gallery to display wherever they wish. “The exhibition is not only taking place in our space. It will spread through the city and could take over the whole world.”

The exhibition runs from 30 August to 31 September.