Earth Is Blue, 2018-2020/21
Powder coated Steel, forged and machine-cut, all three fence parts together approx. 9.100 x 15 x 250 cm
Earth Is Blue is an art work in the form of a new fence for the Goethe-Gymnasium in Düsseldorf, it emerged as a result of the anonymous, invitation-only art-in-architecture competition held by the Kunstkommission der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf (KUKODUS). The competition was launched as part of the reconstruction work at the school, whereby the listed 19th century building was extended to include a new construction and the outdoor facilities were to be redesigned due to lack of space for the students. An artistic work for the school and its community was sought that would, among other things, foster identity.
Earth Is Blue is based on the film 2001 – A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick and uses motives and fragments from the scenes of the film into transforming, stylized outlines and and new images, that are interwoven with each other.
The old fence will be replaced by a new design at three locations around the Goethe-Gymnasium and the school grounds: Lindemannstraße, Goethestraße and Schumannstraße and will become a unifying element for the school complex. In place of the recurring struts of the previous industrial fence, there will be a series of motifs to discover as they merge into one another in the form of a collage of landscapes, technology, architecture, animals and people. The work can be experienced in various ways. The fence offers the possibility to linger in one spot, or to explore the worlds of images, compositions and stories whilst walking or driving by. An overall picture of the 52 meter long fence can be achieved from across the street on Lindemannstraße, but not without letting your gaze wander from left to right. The new fence at the Goethe Gymnasium can not only be walked through, but also invites you to walk around it like a sculpture, contrary to the typical idea of a fence and its characteristics as a demarcating line or dividing wall. Upon viewing the fence, you are also viewing an object in which technology and craftsmanship combine, in which machine-cut metal and metal worked by blacksmithing interact.
Kubrick's film 2001 - A Space Odyssey and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe share similar visions and critical attitudes towards the structures of an anthropocene world and its consequences for our common future.
The computer HAL 9000 from the film is written today in the new language of computer science. As Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), capable of learning human-like and independent structures, HAL 9000 is a vehicle for future questions and trends in the digital revolution today. Innovative technology has become an omnipresent part of our lives.
Material about transformation and the perfect man-made creation in the form of Galatea is ironically tackled in the poem Pygmalion (1767) written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his youth.
The theme ‘mastery of nature through technology’ recurs and is deepened in Goethe's Faust I (1772 – 1831), this was certainly influenced by his work as a natural scientist. With the character Faust, Goethe created the portrait of a contemporary human being - a parable of the globalised and accelerated world in which the environment is exploited, where people seek all their happiness in consumption and are increasingly dissatisfied as they speculate unceasingly on the future.
In 2018 and 2019 I held a 4-part workshop at the Goethe-Gymnasium in Düsseldorf including an introduction to the theme and the material as well as a visit to the blacksmith’s studio. Together with the students in the workshop, I made and built fictitious A.I.s that served as the basis for the drawings and sketches that were then integrated into the final drawing for the entire fence.
Photo: liebschuh, Selma Gültoprak