In August 2015 “Was draus machen” (“Making Something of It”) was entered for the art-for-architecture competition for the Haus der Zukunft (House of the Future) in Berlin. It is an overall concept for two locations, each at the furthest corner of the site. For location A the proposal was a 24-meter-high metal stela consisting of four individual parts, for location B a walk-on ground work that relates closely to location A in its coloration and four-part division.
individual stelae
are each turned
at an angle
of 10 degrees.
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of the turn,
the stelae
are placed
onto each other
at an angle.
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stelae with
their proportions
and the whole stela
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surfaces of
the ground object
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ground surfaces
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a pre-determined
ground grid
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from the south
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from the north
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from the north
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The art concept “Was draus machen” ("Making Something of It") links the locations A and B with an overarching idea and a formally consistent work. The two locations are both part of a whole and at the same time autonomous offerings to the viewer’s perception.
Relationship to the Subject “Future”
The concept conveys the idea of progression – as a principle and as experience. The basic vocabulary consists of four lengths. At location A they form a stela, at location B a path. The progression takes place on the plane of colour. In a four-part colour scale, it leads from red to yellow – from impulse to light. The progression also takes place on the plane of measure. It represents the proportions 1 : 2 : 4 : 8. The concept thus rejects any form of fantasy and mysticism, and emphasises the rational aspects of the future. Here clarity is the visionary’s mode.
At location A the four lengths become cuboid shapes. They are stacked like building blocks, one on top of the other, to form a stela. The motif of building blocks stands for the childlike future and at the same time for ideas, vision, creation, construction.
At location B the four lengths become a colour path at ground level, a walk-on ground painting. Here the four parts appear as individual forms. They are the material, still unconnected, that is put together in the stela, and represent the condition of previousness. In this way, future is interpreted as a chronological perspective. To this is added the aspect of openness in the fan-like arrangement.
Relationship to the Architecture
The Haus der Zukunft (House of the Future) has a striking and original sculptural form. The corporeal nature of the building ought not to be interfered with or diminished by the corporeality of an artwork. For this reason the artistic concept forms a contrast, with the effect of both distancing and complementing: the line versus the volume, reduction versus fullness, abstraction versus concreteness.
Location A is given a stela that rises above the Haus der Zukunft and neighbouring buildings – a crystalline exclamation mark. The four individual forms are welded together one above the other, each one slightly turned. This turn reinforces the principle of progression by means of movement.
Location B is given walk-on coloured surfaces whose area exactly corresponds to the elevation of the stela. The turn takes place in the longitudinal axis in the form of a bend. The colour surfaces lead to the large panorama window of the building. Not only are they a path, they also point out a path.
The artistic designs for locations A and B are closely related to one another. They represent two versions of one and the same approach. Yet for all their harmonisation, they also form an extreme contrast. One the one hand two-dimensional and seemingly immaterial, on the other hand three-dimensional as a spatial sign; one the one hand to be touched by the feet, on the other to be grasped with the hands; on the one hand spread out in front of eyes that turn to the ground, on the other hand rising far above the head – they thus explore complementary principles of perception. They add not masses but dimensions to the architecture and thus enhance its eloquence.