Using Spraypaint, Stencils, brushes, wood and textiles all the parts of a white “Trabant 601S” were repainted and refurbished.
The left side is spraypainted with patterns in the color of the german flag black red and gold the right side in red purble and yellow.
On the roof is a stencil of the famous fotograph of the jumping NVA-soldier Conrad Schuhmann by Peter Leibling.
On the rear window of the is sticker that says “Wir sind ein Volk” (we are one people) that was already there before the repainting further illustrates the point made by the artists: many parts become one, the multiple pieces work together. The “Trabant” as a symbol for east-germany represents a transendence of old borders and a step into a better future, shown by the slogan “3 Schritte voraus” (3 Steps ahead).
Every day is a new chance to challenge borders put up by politics and Culture.
The 601S is a reflexion of the colorful Berlin Wall as well as the variety of cultures and regions in germany that can be very diffrent yet still belong together.
Inside the car are daily papers from the day the berlin wall fell, a Playboy and a McDonalds burgerpaper. These were the first things a relative of the 3Steps from east-germany bought on the day the borders opened to celebrate the freedom of press and the capitalist society of the west.
In the Back plays a video-installation of and advertising for the “Trabant”, a film of how it was made a news-segment about the jumping soldier and the fall of the berlin wall.
The zebra-pattern on the seats symbolizes a black-and-white attitude that contrasts the outside of the Trabant.