The golden crown caps - the documenta 12 guidance system

 
The idea for the gold-plated crown caps came from the design agency Vier5, which also devised the orientation system for documenta 12. They found the model for their crown caps in the spring of 2007, in the middle of Friedrichsplatz. “On the street, crown caps are a symbol of our consumption. They show where people stop, linger, congregate. In contrast to other types of detritus and features of our daily life, the crown cap is particularly ‘stubborn’. Once discarded to the ground, it is almost impossible to remove. And precisely because of its quotidian nature, we remain virtually oblivious to it – yet together the crown caps form an ‘invisible’ orientation system within a city.“ 

 
Now the commonplace, used crown cap has been transformed into a piece of jewellery which is spreading across the world as an emblem of the exhibition. Visitors can purchase these caps in the form of a button from the documenta shop for € 2.50 each, and by wearing it become an integral part of a subtle orientation system themselves.

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