The Homelesse Gallery: Artistic PR Campaign

Hamburg’s best known street newspaper Hinz&Kunzt put out an unusual wake-up call to citizens and political authorities to mark its 30-year anniversary, creating the artistic PR campaign “The Homeless Gallery” together with fischerAppelt and the Hamburger Kunsthalle art gallery. It was a much-noticed event that drew attention to the topic of homelessness and at the same time went some way to compensating for the decrease in donations.

At the Homeless Gallery, Hinz&Kunzt sellers became Hinz&Kunzt artists. Paradoxically, it was the possibly recordbreaking art market that inspired the agency to make the homeless into artists. They, too, were to benefit from it.

Moving art was created out of the life stories of the homeless people, with the help of AI and the expertise of the Hamburger Kunsthalle – and exhibited in Hamburg. It kicked off with a vernissage in public space with around 150 invited guests. The works could be viewed under a suburban train bridge, accompanied by talks and music. Subsequently, twelve further locations became the Homeless Gallery – it seemed to wander spontaneously through the town, like its artists. People were guided to the event locations via social media and DOOH.

In the end, over 100,000 people visited the various exhibitions. The art catalogue turned out to be the most-sold publication in the history of Hinz&Kunzt. Furthermore, many donations were generated and sales of the street newspaper increased, along with website visits. In total, the first project phase achieved an extensive media reach and cast a spotlight on the Homeless Gallery as well as the topic of homelessness.

To conclude, the works went under the hammer at an auction that took place in cooperation with Christie’s Germany at Hamburger Kunsthalle. This not only ensured additional reporting but also generated further donations of more than 40,000 euros.