Wordless
with Emilia Kabakov
YEAR: 2000
CATALOG NUMBER: 154
PROVENANCE
Collection of the artist
EXHIBITIONS
On the border between Laar (Germany)/ Gramsbergen (The Netherlands)
Skulpturenprojekt Kunstwegen – der Vechte Folgen, inauguration on 21 June 2000, (Organization Städtische Galerie Nordhorn)
Laar, Germany
Permanent installation in Laar, since summer 2000
CONCEPT AND DESCRIPTION OF THE INSTALLATION
The idea behind the installation is connected with the proposed joint project ‘Laar/Gramsbergen’ and with Project Zone iii, the site for the proposed project is connected to two nations. The general concept of the installation can be expressed briefly: ‘Borders separate, love unites.’ Two sculptures of identical size are erected on the very border, along both sides of the river Vechte: the figure of a young girl and the figure of a young man. The sculpture of the young man is on the German side of the border, the sculpture of the young girl is on the Dutch side. Both sculptures are in tranquil sitting poses and are facing one another. The uniqueness of these sculptures is in their technical execution: both are made of fine metal wire (0.4 cm) made of stainless steel. Although both sculptures are large, they are completely transparent and the surrounding landscape is visible through them. Hence, they appear like some kind of spirits, mirages, or more precisely, entirely romantic visions or poetic metaphors (hence their romantic costumes). These non-corporeal, immaterial images will ‘work’ well with the surrounding landscape, which is just as tranquil and romantic, where both figures will be ‘eternally’ apart yet at the same time engaged in continual dialogue.
Literature
