in context of room, building and city

>VEB VAM Albertinum Dresden

 States Collection of Art Dresden Gallery New Masters; Sculpture, 2003; On the occasion of the exhibition “underground”, curators: Ulrich Bischoff, Gabriele Knapstein, Hasenkamp Dresden 

Fritz Balthaus: VEB VAM Albertinum Dresden

Museum forms sculpture

 

The spatial profile of the freight elevator into the Albertinum Dresden, the movements necessary to operate the elevator and the path from the freight entrance to the exhibition space form a site-specific sculpture.

 

Freight elevator forms sculpture

 

The freight elevator in the Kunstsammlung Neuer Meister Dresden is 225 cm long, 194 cm high and 175 cm wide. The artistic project of the VEB VAM is to create a sculpture that can be transported by the given freight elevator while maximizing the space available. As the smallest eye of the needle in the museum, the freight elevator and the path to the exhibition space determines the ma-ximum size and form of a sculpture that can be transported into the collection.

 

Freight elevator operator forms sculpture

 

The given volume of the sculpture, defined by the elevator, fits in the space, but cannot be moved if the space for the operator is lacking. Thus the size and necessary hand movements of the art transporteur influence the negative sculptural form. “Doors close”, “press elevator button”, “doors open”: these required movements are imprinted in form.

 

Light forms sculpture

 

Since the form now covers the lamp, the elevator is still dark. Thus a tunnel must be excavated from the form so that the light can be redirected via mirror to the door handles and controls. Now the elevator can be operated and a video-camera can document the proceedings. After arriving in the exhibition space, the sculpture is shown with the video.