Installation. Architecture opens space
Architecture opens space. In this project built architecture serves to render accessible an omnipresent natural space. A timber bridge rises gently from the Palace’s mezzanine to a platform around a mature, seven-metre tall Copper Beech. This sensuous procession makes the space among the tress, one of many ever tangible but elusive spaces we encounter every day, open and accessible to all. This “room within the trees” is a synonym for the infinite number of untouched, unenclosed and indefinable spaces in our surroundings. The installation challenges the visitors’ perception and activates a new way of seeing the details in their surroundings. Aside from its effect on the senses (the interplay of light filtering through the branches and the colour of the leaves; the smell of the wood; the wind as it rushes among the trees), a central design theme is the juxtaposition of the organic, sculptural black trunk of the Copper Beech against the processed, geometric lightly coloured silver fir. The design celebrates the changing behaviour of each during the seasons. Ultimately, the installation is conceived as a joyful means to awaken the senses.
From October 3rd to November 9th 2008 the Association of Fine Artists of Vorarlberg organised the exhibition "Architecture" in the Palace of Thurn & Taxis in Bregenz. The intention of the exhibition was to provide a fleetingness to the fixed and lasting that embodies architecture. Contributors engaged with any of the wide scope of architectural themes, and specifically with the Palace itself.
Acknowledgements: This project owes a debt of gratitude to the oa.sys construction company for building the installation and to all the other sponsors for their support (Land Vorarlberg, Vorarlberg Chamber of Agriculture, Tschabrun, Tischler Rohstoff, Trendholz, Pümpel and Art-Glass).
Exhibition "Architektur". Palais Thurn und Taxis Bregenz
Curators: Helmut Kuess, Juri Troy, Christoph Aigner
Team: Andreas Cukrowicz, Matthias Hein
Structural System: Gordian Kley, merz kley partner, Dornbirn
Photographs: Robert Fessler, Lauterach
