Golden Architecture in City Sculpture Park

A temporary construction project has been specially created to mark the occasion of the internationally renowned outdoor exhibition Skulptur Projekte Münster 07. The construction has an excellent relationship to its surroundings and to this extraordinary event.

From 17 June to 30 September 2007, the art event Skulptur Projekte Münster, held every ten years, is taking place for the fourth time. In contrast to its larger neighbour, documenta XII, one of the most important art exhibitions worldwide and taking place at the same time only 200 kilometres away in the central German town of Kassel, this younger project in the city of Münster – increasingly popular in the art scene – exclusively features projects set in public space that have an intense relationship to the local surroundings. Whereas in Kassel, temporary spaces – which themselves invariably draw varying degrees of controversy - are created for the works of art presented, Münster hosts most sculptures as temporary installations in the midst of a relatively permanent, well-established urban environment. In this way, many of the 36 artists participating in the exhibition engage in clear, exciting communication on the subject of space, city and architecture: Hans-Peter Feldmann necessitated the renovation of public toilets at the Domplatz. Guillaume Bijl staged an excavation site and had a typical German church steeple protrude from a deep hole in the ground; Bruce Nauman has sunken an upside down pyramid in the ground, finally realizing his project from 1977 which was, back then, not approved by local building authorities. These projects have attracted the attention of an ever-increasing public. The project managers expect a record 500,000 visitors this year.

As a model for thoroughly successful temporary architecture, the switch+ information pavilion lucidly illustrates the urban focus of Skulptur Projekte Münster 07. Planned and supervised by Münster firm modularbeat, a twelve meter high parallelepiped, which is clad on all sides with the new copper alloy TECU® Gold, was built adjacent to the Museum of Art and Cultural History and the exhibition project office on an open square that has been unused up to now. The project makes interesting references to its direct surroundings and its own function. The golden surface takes on the colour of the writing designed by artist Martin Schmidl for Skulptur Projekte Münster 07, that is decorating the façade of a building close to the pavilon and marking the location of the exhibition project office. With colour, materials and its evenly distributed round perforations of varying diameter, the building also reacts to the light installation Silver Frequency created by the artist Otto Piene in the 1970’s for the museum façade across the way. The function of the switch+ pavilion is revealed by examining its name: The eastern side of the lower half of the façade, facing the street corner, rests on slide rollers and can be moved so that entrances on both sides of the information centre close or open. In this way, various ”switch settings” emerge as recommendations for pedestrians passing by, that, when open, invite them to the southern entrance and the information stand. On the other side, visitors are guided to the north entrance over a jagged landscape – part of the overall design of the public square – consisting of varying heights and irregularly arranged steps and levels, all made out of plywood. The bookshop on the mid-level is accessible from the entrance on the west side, located higher up and leading to the rooftop terrace café on the top floor via a wooden staircase. Seen from the inside, the frame of the pavilion appears as a simple steel grid construction, onto which the TECU® Gold cassettes are directly fastened without a substructure. The floors are made of plywood boards on battens. With the exception of the bookshop, which is protected from wind and weather on all sides by tarpaulins of the kind otherwise used for trucks, all areas are separated from the outside world alone by the perforated metal skin. This creates fascinating views. Particularly in the evening, when the pavilon seems to glow due to the interior lighting and a soft shimmer is cast through the perforations, a wonderful play of light and space is created in combination with the activated light installation on the museum façade, even more fascinating regarding the fact that this Piene work is so urgently in need of renovation. The reactions to this pavilion and its golden cladding, which draws all eyes upwards and is so very unusual for Münster’s usual cityscape, are numerous: Passers-by photograph the object as often as the sculptures on display, touch the pleasantly smooth surface in disbelief, caress the perforations as if they were looking for an explanation for the impressive façade image. Children from the neighbouring summer academy romp over the wooden stair landscape between the pavilion and museum, blow bubbles in the air and, unbeknownst to them, add an additional design element to the façade image across the way – spontaneous city planning without a long-term concept. Several visitors to the café seem angered at plans to dismantle the ”most beautiful sun terrace in the town centre” after 106 days. But the object shares its fate with most of the other art works on display. After 30 September, the dismantling begins. The ”golden” façade components return to their manufacturer KME Germany in Osnabrück, where they will be recycled for further use. However, some small pieces of the facade will be kept as mementos: Several of the disks cut out in the perforation process and embossed Skulptur Projekte Münster 07 will be available for sale to the public.