Initiatives of the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft
"My Italian Journey" was actually supposed to be presented at readings and the Leipzig Book Fair. But because both the fair and city breaks are not possible during the pandemic, a creative and, above all, quick alternative was needed.
When you walk into Marco Maurer's small shop at Lehmweg 43, you can't help but hear it. The Italy playlist for the autoroute. From heavily enamoured to thickly applied to cultishly elegant, a string of emotions and lots and lots of dolce vita. You don't listen to this music at any other time, it is reserved for time on the road. And for a visit to what they call "the only one-book store in the world".
Just behind the front door is a comfortable chair with armrests, next to it an old parasol and a small table with just enough space for a tube of sun cream and a red light lamp. The light shines warmly on your face and the sun cream immediately makes you want to run off and throw yourself into the lukewarm waters of the Mediterranean in late summer. What is this oasis between wanderlust and bottega all about?
It all started with a book about a 7000 kilometre longing to travel across Italy. Journalist and author Marco Maurer travelled from Sicily to Hamburg with photographer Daniel Etter. In a Fiat Cinquecento, built in '68 and with 15 hp. "My Italian Journey" was actually supposed to be presented at readings and the Leipzig Book Fair. But because both the fair and city trips are not possible during the pandemic, a creative and, above all, quick alternative was needed.
And so the author and his publisher took the unusual route to marketing and invested the budget for promoting the book in an adventure bookshop. And the small shop in the centre of Eppendorf is more than just an experience. The highlights of the trip to Italy have been recreated on just a few square metres of shop space - a small church, a Fiat workshop, a café from the 1960s and countless photos and memorabilia. Marco Maurer talks about all the beautiful places and people he met for the book and guides visitors through his personal travel memories every day.
So the author and his publisher took the unusual route to marketing and invested the budget for promoting the book in an adventure bookshop.
He is wearing a brown mechanic's overall and a dark blue beanie. The contrast between the trendy Eppendorf neighbourhood and the pop-up store could not be better explained. Marco Maurer takes it easy and counters the social monotony with humour and charm. Residents had complained because a few old wine bottles had been lined up outside the front door and not taken away, he explains. The bottles stayed, but were quickly spruced up with a pink flower garland - conflict and shop concept resolved. Back to the bookshop.
Nobody can currently travel like they could two years ago. And meeting people in places other than your own four walls or in the park has also become rare. Both are possible at Lehmweg 43. People talk to the author about his travelling encounters. It is not uncommon for people to digress and consequently end up with their own memories of past holidays in Italy and memorable moments. This creates a space for time out, even though you are right in the middle of the pandemic. "I serve and at the same time soothe the wanderlust that we carry within us."
Within a very short space of time, Marco Maurer has created an unusual and creative counterpart to well-known alternative concepts such as Zoom readings.
In order to defy the challenges of the lockdown, Marco Maurer has quickly created an unusual and creative counterpart to well-known alternative concepts such as Zoom readings. An insight into the bookshop experience is available as a 3D tour and the author has been meeting with various guests for so-called "Amici Talks" on Instagram since mid-March. During the live talks, a grey parrot sits on his shoulder - a reference to an Italian TV show from the 70s. The topics of conversation are entertainingly diverse and sometimes more, sometimes less related to the themes from the author's book. "The Amici Talks actually take the topics from my book further. There is always a small anchor and then we continue the stories and topics".
Is that what creative professionals now have to be able to think and do? "I think that's up to each individual. In my case, all these things were born out of necessity on the one hand, but on the other hand, this kind of book presentation also requires a certain kind of creativity to approach things differently. The Cinquecento, my model, a Giardiniera, used to be a farmer's car; my grandparents were also farmers. These people are no longer present in neighbourhoods like Eppendorf. There is hardly any social diversity in neighbourhoods like these, but rather similarly functioning boutiques after boutiques. My one-bookshop is therefore also a sign against gentrification and a call to think of cities differently, namely more colourful, more social diversity, other milieus - if it's not already too late for that, given the rents you pay."
"There is hardly any social diversity in neighbourhoods like these, but rather similarly functioning boutiques around boutiques."
The adventure bookshop at Lehmweg 43 is still open until 7 May. And then? "On the one hand, we want to revive the concept in a different location for another month or two, to pay the team behind all this and who have worked on it a decent wage and, on the other, to digitise the bookshop," explains Marco Maurer. To this end, he and his team have set up a Startnext crowdfunding campaign, which will run until the end of this week. The team is currently looking for a space in or outside of Hamburg where the bookshop experience can be set up again. At the same time, the last Amici-Talk for the time being will take place on 7 May at 20:15. Fittingly, the topic of the talk will be "Farewell". You can join in via Instagram Live.
