As the Praterstern area is redesigned and redefined, Irena Eden & Stijn Lernout let something radiantly new emerge and yet remain connected to the name and the historical urban planning idea: Three new stars shine in the underpass and refer in their derivation and shaping to both the past and the future.

Stars originate from vast gaseous nebulae that contract and condense in the universe because of their own mass. It is a process that Irena Eden & Stijn Lernout have translated to a wall painting which, like an inner skin, stretches across the entire underpass and visually expands the architectural space.

In cities, “star” is a name given to nodal points where several traffic axes intersect. Already in the late 18th century, several avenues and boulevards came together on Praterstern. Until 1918, the Northern Rail Station, which opened here in 1838 and is one of the oldest train stations in Austria, remained the largest and most important station of the Habsburg monarchy. Today, the public square still is—above ground and underground—one of the city’s most important transportation hubs, with a traffic circle where seven streets converge, with two subway lines crossing, and with bus, tramway, suburban and regional train stops. An underpass that was built 1954/55 connects Praterstern with the recreational green Prater area.

It is this overall urban situation—the historical as well as the most recent redesigning and the redefinition of the area—and its significance that the two artists relate to. They survey and transfer it into a new dimension, a reflexive system that they use to open up the space and immerse passers-by in a star-studded cosmos of its own.