Gate of Hope

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Gate of Hope
Surname Gate of Hope
object Landscape architectural installation
Artist Dan Graham
execution Pyramid: Horst Schmäh (locksmith's shop, metal construction), Stuttgart
Concrete tub: Thomas Ehrmann gardening and landscaping, Bietigheim-Bissingen
Construction year 1993
location Stuttgart , Leibfriedscher Garden
Height above sea level approx. 280 m
material Stainless steel, glass
Pyramid dimensions Width: a = 10.240 m, b = 4.992 m
Depth: t = 4.65 m
Side wall width: c = 5.248 m.
Side wall
height : h = 8.36 m top height: s1 = 12.77 m, s2 = 6.25 m
Disk dimensions Side x height: 1.120 × 0.970 m
Grating dimensions Side x height: 1.155 × 1,000 m, mesh size: 0.03 m

The Gate of Hope 's (Gate of Hope) in Stuttgart is an architectural sculpture of the American conceptual artist Dan Graham , one of a regular tetrahedron designed door stainless steel profiles and one-way mirrors . It is at the end of the Lodzer footbridge , which leads from Rosenstein Park to Leibfriedschen Garten .

The Gate of Hope is one of the art stations that were built for the International Horticultural Exhibition 1993 (IGA '93) in the park landscape of the Green U and that were retained after the exhibition.

Hints:

  • Numbers in brackets, e.g. B. (12), refer to the corresponding numbers in the plan of the Leibfried Garden.
  • The length designations ac, h, s1, s2 and t refer to the illustration of the network of the Gate of Hope .

location

Plan of the Leibfried Garden.

prehistory

The Landscape and Art Advisory Board of the Stuttgart City Council invited Dan Graham in 1989 to contribute to the IGA '93. His first design for a skateboard pavilion , in which “the skateboarders could see their jumps reflected from all sides”, was rejected by the planning team because, as Dan Graham believes, “they didn't want a sports facility for young people there” (“ perhaps because the notion of a recreational attraction primarily for teenagers was not thought to be appropriate ”).

For his second design, which he also submitted in 1989 and which was accepted by the planning team, Graham fell back on the unrealized idea of ​​a covered bridge that he had designed in 1987 for the Domaine de Kerguéhennec in Brittany . "An existing wooden bridge that crosses a small river [...] is being replaced by a construction in the form of an openwork triangle that forms a covered bridge." The Two-Way Mirror Triangular Bridge should consist of large-area two-way mirrors , while the walls of the Gate of Hope are made up of small one-way mirrors . In addition, the model of the Kerguéhennec Bridge and the Gate of Hope are very similar.

description

  • Power of the Gate of Hope.

  • The Gate of Hope was created by cutting the small pyramid (blue) from the large pyramid.

Legend
Colours   white = large goal, yellow = base area, green = side walls, blue = small goal.
Dimensions  see brief description .

pyramid

A modified tetrahedron rises above a concrete base, which forms the foundation of the pyramid and encloses a 45 cm deep water basin . The Gate of Hope differs from a normal tetrahedron in two ways:

  • The front side of the triangle is missing, so that the Gate of Hope forms a large triangular gate towards the Lodzer Steg.
  • A small tetrahedron was cut off at the back of the large pyramid, so that another, small gate was created in the direction of the Leibfriedschen Garten. The small pyramid is one-eighth the volume of the large pyramid, and its edge lengths are half as long as the sides of the (uncircumcised) large pyramid.

The base of the great pyramid was reduced from a triangle to a trapezoid by cutting it off. The base a of the trapezoid (the larger base side) forms the threshold of the large gate. Correspondingly, the smaller base side b coincides with the threshold of the small gate.

The pyramid is a frame construction made of nodes (three-legged angles) that are screwed to the concrete tub, and the main frame, in which the three lattice frames for the glazing and the gratings sit. All frame parts are made of stainless steel.

walls

The trapezoidal legs c form the base line of the two side walls. They are coffered by equilateral triangles with an edge length of 1.12 m and a height of 0.97 m , which are alternately set against each other line by line. Each wall consists of eight lines. The bottom four lines are made up of eight triangles each, while the top four lines consist of seven, five, three and one triangle at the top.

The triangles were screwed onto the lattice frame from the outside with glass retaining profiles and are fitted with one-way mirrors , a “laminated glass made of a layer of spy mirror glass and a layer of normal glass. Despite reflections, the mirror glass simultaneously allows views through, which means that visual impressions are superimposed. “Depending on the incidence of light, the mirrors are opaque, translucent or transparent to the outside.

The terms one-way and two-way mirror are sometimes used interchangeably at Graham: “The one-sided mirrored glass has been a central element in Graham's work for over twenty years. With its often unexpected effects, it can confuse not only the eye, but also the language. The so-called "spy glass" is called both a one-way and a two-way mirror; Graham himself speaks of a "two-way mirror". This contradiction arises from the fact that the language use focuses on two different aspects: either the one-sided mirror ability or the bilateral accessibility or usability. "

ground

Under the trapezoidal base of the Gate of Hope there is a 45 cm deep water basin, which is covered by a grate floor mounted on a lattice frame. It is made up of triangles that are roughly the same size as the mirror triangles and are arranged analogously to them, namely in four rows with (starting with the large goal) 15, 13, 11 or 9 triangles, which are alternately set against each other row by row are. The reflections of the inner walls of the pyramids continue on the water level of the pool.

According to Dan Graham, the "open steel grids [...] are identical to those grids over the ventilation shafts in the streets of Paris and the metro. The reflections on the water below this area are easy to see: the water also reflects the reflections of the sky from the two mirrored sides above. like the image of the viewer and the surrounding landscape. "

concept

With the Gate of Hope, Dan Graham implemented the concept of a covered bridge that he had planned for the Domaine de Kerguéhennec in 1987 , but was unable to realize (see previous history ). At the new location, the bridge lost its original function because there is no natural watercourse flowing through it, but it fulfills the function of a bridge in the figurative sense, as the Gate of Hope connects the Rosenstein Park with the Leibfriedschen Garten. The bridge has become a gate that can be crossed on two sides: “Whoever enters the Leibfriedschen Garten, the gate narrows, who goes out, gains width.” In addition, he succeeded in “creating an accessible kaleidoscope with his sculpture create, the reflections and perspectives enable new perceptions ”. Why Graham named his pavilion sculpture Gate of Hope is not known.

In the specifications for the Gate of Hope, Dan Graham described the planned mode of operation of his mirror pyramid: “Due to the properties of the one-way mirror, this shape will reflect the surroundings and the audience on both sides at the same time. This reflectivity, with which the transparency is superimposed, is in an uninterrupted flow and is constantly changing, depending on which side receives more light from the sky and the sun from moment to moment. "

Elsewhere he said about his glass pavilions: they should be “tangible inside and out. They show the viewer his own body and himself as a perceiving subject, but also give him the opportunity to observe other people who in turn perceive themselves. [...] The perception is in an uninterrupted flow and is constantly changing, depending on which side receives more light from the sky and sun from moment to moment. "

Dan Graham shows a line of tradition from the “Arcadian shelters” in gardening, through modern exhibition pavilions and shelters at bus stops to his pavilions, in which he transforms “materials and forms of the modern city” - glass and mirror glass with steel frames - into a “natural” or utopian environment ”. Graham's pavilions cite the glazed facades of modern administration buildings, which are either made “invisible” or reflect the external environment. His pavilions are “placed in a neutralized and in this sense utopian scenery within the real environment” and thus realize the “overall structure of a city” in a “microcosm”.

Status

The Gate of Hope, like many other objects in the Green U parks , has always been a target for vandals. The sculpture was largely spared from graffiti , but some of the mirror triangles were deliberately smashed several times and ultimately not replaced.

photos

  • View from the northwest towards the Lodzer Steg

  • Reflection and transparency

  • Grating floor with water basin in which the gate is reflected

literature

  • Ralf Arbogast: Stuttgart, the green experience. Recreational landscapes, parks and garden shows in the past and present . Tübingen 1993, p. 92.
  • Two-Way Mirror Triangular Bridge and Triangular Pavillon in Relation to Existing Mill House for the Domaine de Kerguéhennec (1987) . In: Dan Graham, Ulrich Wilmes (Ed.): Selected writings , Stuttgart 1994, pp. 281–282.
  • Birgit Pelzer, Mark Francis, Beatriz Colomina : Dan Graham , London 2001, illustrations: pp. 92, 95, 96.
  • Ludwig Seyfarth: Dan Grahams Pavilions in Magdeburg . In: Josef Filipp, Jens Uwe Gellner: Flora and the fine arts. Contemporary (garden) art. Ian Hamilton Finlay, Fortuyn / O'Brien , Ludger Gerdes, Dan Graham, Robin Minard, Olaf Nicolai . Amsterdam 2000, pp. 138-161.
  • Dan Graham - Between reflection and transparency . In: Markus Stegmann: Architectural Sculpture in the 20th Century. Historical aspects and work structures . Tübingen 1995, pp. 151-156, 240.
  • Josh Thorpe: Dan Graham, Pavilions. A guide . Toronto 2009, illustration: p. 44.
  • Christian Vöhringer: Dan Graham, Gate of Hope, 1993 . In: Bärbel Küster (ed.), Wolfram Janzer (photos): Sculptures of the 20th century in Stuttgart . Heidelberg 2006, pp. 110-113.
  • Frank R. Werner: Landscape and Art . In: #Evert 1993 , pp. 26-30, here: 29.
  • Frank Werner (editor); Christof Luz (essay); Hans Luz (essay): Art-Nature-Drama. Earthworks beyond the IGA 1993 Stuttgart , Stuttgart 1993, pp. [51-55].

Web links

Commons : Gate of Hope  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Gate of Hope on the website of the city of Stuttgart.
  • Dan Graham: Gate of Hope, 1993 . City of Stuttgart; only accessed online at stuttgart.de 2013.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst Schmäh died on January 21, 2013 (source: stuttgart-gedenken.de ).
  2. ↑ Homepage: gartengestaltung-ehrmann.de .
  3. ↑ Information from the garden, cemetery and forest office of the City of Stuttgart from October 1 and 7, 2013.
  4. ↑ #Werner 1993.3 , page [55].
  5. ↑ #Werner 1993.3 , page [54].
  6. ↑ # Vöhringer 2006 , page 110.
  7. ↑ #Werner 1993.3 , page [51].
  8. ↑ #Werner 1993.3 , page [51].
  9. ↑ The ten art stations that have been preserved are: Near the beech , Bienengarten , Egelsee , Gate of Hope, Grottenloch , Im Keuper , Sanctuarium , Stangenwald , Unter den Stangen , Villa Moser .
  10. ↑ The map is based on an OpenStreetMap map, supplemented by the key figures 1–22, the dashed route at no. 10 and the symbols for the Villa Moser (16) and the sanctuary (22). The route and the two symbols are only approximately true to scale and position.
  11. ↑ #Stuttgart 2013 ; # Vöhringer 2006 , page 112.
  12. ↑ # Vöhringer 2006 , footnote 3, page 132.
  13. ↑ #Stuttgart 2013 .
  14. ↑ #Graham 1994 , p. 281. - Although Graham did not mention the Gate of Hope in the book, although it was published a year after IGA '93.
  15. ↑ #Werner 1993.3 , page [54].
  16. ↑ #Werner 1993.3 , page [54].
  17. ↑ #Werner 1993.3 , page [54].
  18. ↑ #Stuttgart 2013 .
  19. ↑ #Seyfarth 2000 , page 138.
  20. ↑ #Stuttgart 2013 .
  21. ↑ #Graham 1994 , p. 282.
  22. ↑ #Stuttgart 2013 .
  23. ↑ #Stuttgart 2013 .
  24. ↑ #Werner 1993.3 , page [54].
  25. ↑ #Stuttgart 2013 .
  26. ↑ #Graham 1994 , p. 105.
  27. ↑ #Graham 1994 , p. 105.

Coordinates: 48 ° 48 ′ 25.9 ″  N , 9 ° 11 ′ 19.3 ″  E