Art Tour with 27 Courses
The "skulptur projekte
münster 07"
"Art in
Public Space": every ten years, this concept, which has always been a bone
of contention, is the focus of "skulptur projekte münster." This year, the
widely scattered sculptures can once again be best explored on bicycle.
The fourth round of the legendary show unites international art stars like
Bruce Nauman, Mark Wallinger, and Isa Genzken, whose contribution is
sponsored by Deutsche Bank. The artists have set out to save the
reputation of an idea that has fallen into discredit in an age of city
image marketing – with all its annoying Berlin Buddy Bears and painted
plastic bulls. db artmag has a look at the art from a biker’s point of
view.
Marko Lehanka: "Blume für Münster" on the Prinzipalmarkt,
photomontage of the artist
Half a million
two-wheeled vehicles on the streets: whoever visits Münster simply has to
do it on a bike. That’s a big cliché, of course, but for the moment it’s
fairly apt. How else but per pedales should visitors manage the
long distances separating the works of 35 international artists scattered
around the entire urban area – in the inner city, around the Aasee, or on
the university campus? Starting on June 17, the
skulptur projekte münster lure visitors once again to Westphalia.
In a ten-year-rhythm since 1977, the state of sculpture and society become
the subjects of investigation in a mega-show that was able to win over
international superstars like
Claes Oldenburg and
Richard Serra already for its first round. And so, every ten years art
enthusiasts mount their bicycles in Münster to find out the state of the
art in public art.
Guy Ben-Ner, Draft for his Münster projekt,
Photo: Roman Mensing/sp07
Whoever grabs one of
the shiny silver high-tech bicycles to pedal to the works ahead of time
can’t help but ponder the relationship between art and the bicycle in
general. The modern wonder comes across as the stylishly spoiled grandson
of Duchamp’s
Roue de Bicyclette: in 1913, the French artist inverted a simple
spoked wheel and mounted it on a stool, thus creating the prototype for
his famous
"Ready-Mades" and opening up an entirely new dimension for
sculpture – the banality of everyday life as a three-dimensional art
object. When Claes Oldenburg’s gigantic billiard balls were installed at
the first skulptur projekte, this idea also came to fore in
Münster, albeit in altered form.
Guy Ben-Ner
Photo: Roman Mensing/sp07
In 2007, the work of
Guy Ben-Ner formulates a direct reference to Duchamp: together with his
children, the Israeli artist rebuilt famous bicycle works of the art
world, took them apart, and put them back together again. The end results
of this "deconstruction" of famous works form a
Tinguely-esque machine monster. When you hit the pedal, a mechanism moves
a brush across a canvas. Fits in perfectly with this city of solid calf
muscles.
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Installation of Claes Oldenburg's Giant
Pool Balls 1977,
Photo: Rudolf
Wakonigg / LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte
The next work of art is only a few minutes away on bike. Behind an
inconspicuous gate near the main train station, situated between office
buildings and parking garages, the American artist
Mike Kelley has staged a small rustic idyll: a petting zoo complete with
donkeys, sheep, goats, and ponies. The central element of this animal
farm, however, is the life-sized Biblical figure of salt Kelley installed:
Lot’s Wife, who went against God’s command and turned around to gaze at
the downfall of Sodom and Gomorrha, only to freeze into a pillar of salt.
Now, in Münster, the animals of the petting zoo occasionally lick at the
sculpture, gradually altering its form throughout the duration of the
exhibition. It’s only at first glance a remake of
Kader Attia’s work
Flying Rats from 2005, in which the French artist let pigeons pick at
little figures of children fashioned from birdfeed. In contrast to Attia,
Kelley is not concerned with visualizing destructive violence; on the
contrary, he’s interest in love and affection and the various forms of
aberrant sexuality, which in English can be subsumed under the term sodomy.
Guillaume Bijl,
Archeological Site
(Sorry-Installation), Modell,
Photo: Roman Mensing/sp07
Whether or not
Kelley’s licked salt figure will injure the religious sentiments of
Münster’s devout Catholic inhabitants remains to be seen. But a scandal
seems unlikely. Ultimately, the city has grown used to art in public
space. That was different in the ’70s, as the founding story of
skulptur projekte reveals: in 1973, the city erected a
sculpture by
George Rickey on the Engelenschanze – three stainless steel squares on a
pole that rotate in the wind. The work was a gift of WestLB, which in turn
was permitted to purchase a plot of land for a new company building. As a
result, the old Münster Zoo had to give way to the bank building, which
met with disapproval among the city’s inhabitants, which then turned
against the donated sculpture. "Back then, the mood was so explosive that
the newspapers really got up in arms against the art," as
Kasper König, curator for skulptur projekte münster from
the very beginning, recalls. In order to bring the debate back to an
objective level, the director of the Landesmuseum at the time, Klaus
Bußmann, initiated an exhibition on modern sculpture from
Rodin to the present day. The informative show was presented in 1977 –
with a branch in the city space, the "project part," curated by then
34-year-old Kasper König.
skulptur projekte münster 07: the curatorial team:
Dr. Brigitte Franzen, Prof. Kasper König, Dr. Carina Plath (v.l.),
Foto: Roman Mensing/sp07
And so, a history of
scandal gradually gives way to a success story. At the first skulptur
projekte, enraged residents of Münster actually tried to roll
Oldenburg’s Pool Balls into Lake Aa. Things like that don’t
happen anymore. But the art has changed, too. As can quickly be discovered
on the next bike tour. While Oldenburg’s cement balls confronted the
viewer as hermetically sealed monuments, this year some artists seek
direct contact with the population of Münster, incorporating them in their
projects.
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