An installation work of art for the European Union
This work of art was created by a tip from a colleague. In 2019, she had seen a steel plate on the factory premises of Springer, which she said was something for me as an artist to create something grandiose with.
That's how I looked at the record, already at the moment of first seeing the idea was born: “This is Europe, the cradle. Movable and moving. The way the European Union is."
Since the plate could not be used for the construction of an off-shore wind power plant due to a faulty dimension, I purchased it and had it brought to the premises of the Oldenburg crane company Ulferts and Wittrock. It was stored there during the coronavirus period until the summer of 2024.
I planned the work in addition to the consideration of taking them on a journey through the EU, also for a temporary presentation in Strasbourg or Brussels.
A few weeks before the European elections in July 2024, it was now taken to Oldenburg Europa-Platz, where it was raised to a prepared foundation and developed into a work of art "Europa bewegbar"
5500 kg, measuring 560 cm x 180 cm x 7 cm, the steel plate bent in the longitudinal direction to a cradle open upwards, movable on two steel beams in foundation resting on the two points of their own balance.
But why that?
A work of art in public space always has special goals:
It should communicate, speak, stimulate topics for discussion, ask questions and encourage questioning.
It should interest visitors to wear them quasi optical-magnetic in order to deal with the artistically staged theme. And, of course, haptic. In this case, deliberately.
‘Overcome your fear of touching it and put your hands on it!’
We all know this phenomenon: Art not only looks at my eyes but also with my hands, wanting to touch with my fingers.
The hand is the organ of the mind, of being. With it we comprehend existence.
‘Can I touch this?’
‘This is not allowed!’
But often we want to touch it, to grasp it, to understand it more sensually.
The materiality of this work of art achieves and aims precisely this: Take Europe into your hands!
It encourages “calls” to become active not only with, but also actively involved in, the topics being stimulated. Touching, engaging, engaging, participating in the elections and also in the events of the EU
In this sense, the title ‘Europa bewegbar’ should be taken literally.
‘Participate’, ‘Act!’, ‘Accept the EU institution’.
It is the only transnationally elected institution in the world and unites 27 nations with 24 official languages. A special and very forward-looking form of human coexistence.
It lives by and through the cooperation of all!
Therefore, the work of art is movable according to its name: Even with a small hand pressure on a narrow side, the curved steel sheet can be set into a vibrating movement despite its own weight of 5500 kg. At the same time, it ‘responds’ to the visitor and conveys its weight and lightness. And at the same moment conveys through its mass strength and size as well as despite its own weight filigree and immediate response.
It floats above things in a certain sense.
The EU creates the connection between all of us, it offers the boat in which we all sit and we should therefore also determine the course together.
It ensures the standard of living and peace.
It ensures reciprocal compensation in the event of differences. At the same time, it respects regional and national differences and identities.
It is for all contacts and partners.
Get involved!
This is democracy.
It is democracy.
It's about democracy.
Europe is moving
A representative large-scale work of art for the European Union
Many publications, commentaries and public and private communications give the impression that the EU is sluggish, lofty and powerless. This view has also crept into the minds and actions of many. However, the EU is exactly the opposite: She is extremely sensitive, mobile and awake. And she has weight in the truest sense of the word, she is important to me! It has foundation, substance, tension and dynamics. She is curious and attractive. It is movable and movable.
The installation ‘Europa wegbar’ conveys this artistically by using the pictorial means ‘Wiege’ (cradle).
The EU is a cradle:
It provides support, protection and security and reliable safety
* The curved and weighing movable mounted steel sheet
The EU balances its interconnected states:
It ensures balance and harmony, community and mutually responsible reliability, as well as peace and justice.
* The self-balancing positioning of the curved sheet steel on two longitudinal rails, similar to a scale
The EU is mobile and movable:
It captures and registers every influence, however small, from the outside. Despite the size of its institution, it is movable and movable, easy to move. So she is anything but rigid, but on the contrary awake and sensitive and at the same time storm-proof. She communicates and gives answers
* The ability to place the cradle in a cradle with light hand force. If I press on one side, I can see the movement on the opposite side. Then the cradle swings itself back into its resting position. Excessive weighing is not possible due to its own weight. Each input impulse has an effect and is answered. Materiality invites you to participate. Communication, calm, dynamism, weight, balance. Likewise, wind and storm will set the work of art in motion. ‘Europa bewegbar’ is storm-proof.
The EU is down-to-earth and strong, a coexistence of calm and dynamism and this lasting:
It creates a basis, a jointly achieved balance, which ensures peace, tranquility and relaxation and a reliable perspective on a good future for all.
* The visible and perceptibly very heavy steel cradle rests on its solid base with a feather-light effect – floating downright. Almost smoothly on its firm foundation, immovable. Permanent and eternal
The EU is dynamic, exciting, interesting and curious:
* The materiality and enormous thickness (7 cm) of the curved steel sheet attracts interested parties optically and magnetically and stimulates them to touch = to participate. At the same time, it generates respect and respect
The EU creates a reliable and secure connection between all member states:
* The 27 stars welded onto the top of the cradle represent the 27 member states in the EU. They are fixed and originally connected to each other on and with it, welded by the pictorial means ‘cradle’. A separation is hardly possible without traces. The loose distribution on the convex curved steel sheet also conveys their partnership-like connection to and in cooperation and for each other.
The EU is realistic, a success of its historical development and by no means "finished", "painted" and "polished":
It is not new, not old-fashioned or encrusted. It changes, is always interactive and up-to-date, is ready for change and bears the traces of its lifetime. It is open to the future with a constant look into the past in the present now.
* The use of the material black sheet for the cradle and the welded stars. The rusty surfaces are sealed in linseed oil varnish.
At the same time, the work of art ‘Europa bewegbar’ is also movable as a whole. So it can go until the next election or even longer on migration through the EU.
By means of an assembleable lift/separation and equally assembleable safety construction for driving on a truck, the plant is prepared for its wanderings.
In the summer of 2024, I presented this work of art for a period of almost three months on Europa-Platz in Oldenburg.
It was not only a technical test, but also a review of how visitors will pick up the plant and deal with it.
Materials:
Corten steel
560 cm length, 180 cm width and 7 cm thickness, 5500 kg weight
Concave curved in the longitudinal direction towards the sky. In such a way that the narrow sides are located 90 cm higher than the base.
In the concave curved surface of the sheet steel sheet, a star of 6 mm thick sheet steel is welded for each member country in the EU.
The surface of the plate was sealed with linseed oil varnish after alignment of the rust patina
The support consists of two railway tracks ‘Format 60 E 2’ (convex running surface) anchored parallel to each other in a foundation and welded to the inner reinforcement of the foundation plate. The sheet steel bend has two concave (inwardly shaped tread) profiles on the underside.
Both profiles form a perfect pair to keep the curved steel sheet safely and smoothly in the oscillating path.
The two profiles welded to the underside of the steel arch also have a vibration limitation and center centering.
The foundation slab is a concrete slab (250 x 130 x 20 cm, approx. 1650 kg) reinforced inside, cast and then sanded and also sealed with linseed oil varnish.
An external profiling of the narrow-sided foundation edges enables the installation of a lifting and settling construction (U-steel, threaded rods) with four lifting eyelets for the crane device.
For the transport, construction and dismantling phase of the installation, the curved steel plate can be screwed to the foundation using a transport safety device.
A plaque to be provided and designed in ring binder form, raised in a boulder, informs visitors about the work of art with its title and concept in all 24 languages spoken in the European Union.
In addition to a QR code, an NFC is also offered here for direct access to the overall concept.
Installation direction:
Exactly in the direction of the greatest distance in the EU determined with the help of a compass: Gibraltar – Northern Finland
