Franz Gsellmann's world machine

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World machine

The world machine of the East Styrian farmer Franz Gsellmann (1910–1981) is an art machine built between 1958 and 1981, which can be viewed in his former farm near Kaag in the municipality of Edelsbach near Feldbach in Styria.

World machine

The expression “world machine” does not come from the builder and is an emergency name, since a purpose of the machine in the conventional sense is not recognizable, and Gsellmann himself answered such questions evasively. The machine can therefore be interpreted as an artistic installation or kinetic art .

Gsellmann wanted to become an electrician as a teenager. The dream of a career did not come true, however, because the farmer's son had to take over his father's farm. Nevertheless, Gsellmann was fascinated by machines all his life. His key experience was the report in a local newspaper about the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels , when the Atomium was opened. He traveled to Belgium and drew this 110 meter high metal sculpture of an iron crystal. “As I saw the Atomium, in a dream I saw my finished machine. The Atomium was the foundation for my world machine. ”From then on he worked on the machine for twenty-three years until shortly before his death. Almost every day Gsellmann withdrew to his closed and curtained study to work on the machine, which he only presented to his family members for the first time after eight years of construction.

He found the parts of his machine mostly in used goods markets or scrapyards. He was often observed by his neighbors, as he brought home new finds with the disc chest or the team of oxen. Gsellmann suffered greatly from the fact that his life's work was neither recognized by his own family nor by the people of the region during his lifetime. Jean Tinguely's works were created at almost the same time and from similar materials. They differ - according to the writer Gerhard Roth - only in the ironic distance from one another, which the Swiss Tinguely shows and which Franz Gsellmann does not have. As a godly and humble person, Franz Gsellmann attributed the realization of his dream to his Most High alone. To this day, the visitors and admirers of the work of art belong predominantly to intellectual circles from the urban milieu.

The machine is about four meters long, one meter wide and three meters high. Around 2000 different components are built into a trembling, swinging, rotating, booming, glowing and flashing device that is operated by 25 electric motors. In addition to coils, hoses and wires, the machine consists of such different parts as a porcelain eagle, an organ fan, an infrared lamp, three blue lights, 64 bird whistles , 200 light bulbs, 14 bells, a compressed air cylinder to drive the wind-driven parts, a folding net , one Toy rocket that Gsellmann had specially sent to him from Japan , and much more. The permanent movement of the machine parts creates light and sound effects. With Gsellmann's death in 1981, the machine not only lost its creator, but also the only specialist who was able to maintain its functionality. Around 1993 the company VA Zeltweg Montage set itself the task of restoring and maintaining the world machine, which was only partially functional at the time.

The “world machine” is now the central exhibit in the private museum of the builder's family. According to their information, almost 10,000 visitors come every year. The world machine can be seen indirectly, among other things, in a video in the Linz Technology Museum Ars Electronica Center .

literature

Film adaptation

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from: Andreas Santol: Franz Gsellmann . In: VAMCE Annual Report 1993, pp. 4–34, here p. 8
  2. ↑ It rattles and rattles. (PDF) May 16, 2012, accessed March 10, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Interview with the writer Gerhard Roth on the subject - The whole cosmos in the farmer's barn The Styrian farmer Franz Gsellmann and his "world machine" By Holger Hettinger (mp3)
  4. ↑ Gsellmann's world machine. In: kultur.steiermark.at. Archived from the original on December 10, 2010 ; accessed on May 12, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Deutschlandradio Kultur from October 8, 2008: "The whole cosmos in the farmer's barn"

Coordinates: 47 ° 0 ′ 59 ″  N , 15 ° 49 ′ 16 ″  E