Large Red Sphere

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The red granite ball on the pedestal
Location in space

Large Red Sphere ( German  Große Rote Kugel ) is a sculpture by the American artist Walter De Maria in Munich .

location

The work of art is located in the listed Türkentor on Türkenstrasse in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich between the Brandhorst Museum and the Pinakothek der Moderne . It is part of the art area , which includes the open space around the Munich Pinakotheken.

history

The Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen has been trying since 2001 to get a work by the American artist Walter De Maria in order to enrich the focus of the collection of contemporary North American art. De Maria had a ball made of red granite for the project in a granite factory in Aicha vorm Wald in Lower Bavaria . He had already created spherical art works in 1989 for the French National Assembly in Paris and in 2000 and 2004 for the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum and the Chichu Art Museum in Japan .

In 2006 the Udo and Anette Brandhorst Foundation acquired the work of art and made it available to the Bavarian State Painting Collections on permanent loan . In order to set up the work of art, the Turkish Gate has been rebuilt and completely renovated since 2009 while preserving the historical substance. The architectural office Sauerbruch Hutton , which had also built the neighboring Brandhorst Museum , was commissioned with the implementation . The construction measures, which cost around 1 million euros, were largely financed by the Pinakothek der Moderne foundation. On October 23, 2010 the work of art was made accessible to the public as part of a citizens' festival.

description

The work follows De Maria's concept "One Room - One Work". The room is the cubic structure of the Turkish Gate, which is the last remaining building of the Turkish barracks built in the 19th century . In the middle of the room, De Maria set up a three-tiered round pedestal made of dark gray stone. The red granite ball, which has a diameter of 2.60 meters and a weight of 25 tons, rests on it. Four weathered stone pillars stand around the pedestal towards the corners of the building. They support a construction made of old wooden beams that originally formed the false ceiling of the door.

The shape of the sphere and the pedestal contrasts with the cubic structure of the room. The smoothly polished surface of the sphere reflects the room and the windows, so that the effect of the work of art also depends on the point of view of the viewer.

literature

  • Walter De Maria "Large Red Sphere" 2010 . Information sheet from the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, the Udo and Anette Brandhorst Foundation and the Pinakothek der Moderne Foundation.

Web links

Commons : Large Red Sphere  - collection of images, videos and audio files


Coordinates: 48 ° 8 ′ 50 ″  N , 11 ° 34 ′ 25.6 ″  E