The square in front of Hamm railway station looks like a of river safety training course, hotel buffet and the trade fair stands of medium-sized companies. Road markings outline an area roughly the size of a tennis court, which is divided into fields of different sizes like a zigzagged letterpress case, equipped with various devices. A police trailer stands in the middle, with a camera mast protruding from its roof. At one edge a market cart with displays; at another, rows of white chairs facing the square expectantly. A caretaker jingle plays across the square, coffee and pastries are ready. Sample boards show graffiti-covered house walls, next to them are miniature paint rollers and paint pots in various shades of grey, beige and brown. In another area, three bottles of schnapps, three drink cartons, three paving stones, three pieces of dog faeces and three cigarette butts are to be found, orderly arranged and strangely sterile. A broom holder looks as if three teams are about to compete against each other in a kind of cleaning mini golf. A small silver cleaning vehicle incessantly strokes the police trailer. More and more passers-by gather around and watch with interest. Some stand thoughtfully in front of the large golden trophy. ‘1st Hammer Caretaker’ is written on the marble base. And then it starts again. The soundtrack to the caretaker championships blares from the loudspeakers, then someone in grey counts down to the final round of graffiti removal. (...)
✕ Hausmeisterschaften
The first Hamm Caretaker Championships are taking place in front of Hamm railway station on 28 August 2025. Local caretakers, employees of municipal cleaning companies and public order offices, as well as interested parties from across the Ruhr region, have been invited to Hamm to compete in speed sweeping, rubbish stacking, cleaning and graffiti painting. Ms Müller wins the race and takes home the huge golden trophy after an exciting day of competition. Following Stuttgart and Berlin, the Berlin-based company SONDER is now also focusing on a combination of innovative cleaning techniques and the use of aggression-reducing vandalism replicas in the Ruhr area. In Hamm, the competitions revolve around the traditional Japanese teaching of Sharawadgi. This involves introducing selective artificial disorder into the cityscape and carrying out spatially limited fine cleaning measures in order to gently nurture the conflict-ridden balance of mutual disorder and its ordering disruption that has grown over decades, rather than resolving it unilaterally.
A project by SONDER (Peter Behrbohm and Anton Steenbock) as part of the Grand Snail Tour by Urbane Künste Ruhr. Photos: Peter Behrbohm, Daniel Sadrowski and Anton Steenbock. With the kind support of the North Rhine-Westphalia Police and the Hamm Public Order Office.
