CARBON OBELISK - Essen, Germany
Posted by: g300td
N 51° 30.926 E 007° 00.682
32U E 362016 N 5709020
"Emscherkunst" by Rita McBride
Waymark Code: WMNYX9
Location: Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Date Posted: 05/26/2015
Views: 11
"At a crossreads north of the Emscher, at the Schurenbach waste heap, an almost fourteen meters high obelisk was built. It alludes to the way – frequently imported from the east – obelisks were used during the Renaissance and Baroque eras as landmarks to distinguish squares and buildings. McBride’s obelisk, however, deliberately marks a non-place, a small, unspectacular spot in a kind of no-man’s-land. Set beneath a high-voltage power line and surrounded by bushes, the sculpture seems to have been left there by accident.
First impressions, however, can be deceptive: as a symbol of autonomous sculpture, the obelisk is McBride’s answer to the prominent landmarks by Raimund Kummer and Richard Serra nearby. Kummer’s 1987 sculpture Schwelle (Wave) can be found if one continues straight down the Emscher bicycle path, while Serra’s Bramme (1998) is a distinguishing feature atop the Schurenbach waste heap to the south.
McBride’s sculpture is also a reference to the region’s history as Germany’s mining center – the carbon used fort he sculpture is made from coal-based carbon fibers, and its shimmery, matte surface shows that it is an expensive, unusual material.
The Carbon Obelisk is a permanent piece of art and accessible at all times."
Source: Emscherkunst
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