Steel products from Solingen, especially knives, are known all over the world. Even in the South American jungle, Bud Spencer warned his partner Terence Hill of a “postcard from Solingen” in his back – i.e. the switchblade in the hand of the sneaking attacker – in the 1973 cinema classic “Two Heavenly Dogs on the Road to Hell”. For the tenth anniversary […]

Steel products from Solingen, especially knives, are known all over the world. Even in the South American jungle, Bud Spencer warned his partner Terence Hill of a “postcard from Solingen” in his back – i.e. the switchblade in the hand of the sneaking attacker – in the 1973 cinema classic “Two Heavenly Dogs on the Road to Hell”. To mark the tenth anniversary of the Solingen Fair (June 8 & 9, 2018), a local natural stone company has now created an oversized stone knife.

The Solingen trade fair focuses on the products of local industry, in the classic city of blades, of course, especially the well-known steel products. Directly opposite the venue of this largest trade fair in the Bergisches Land region – the local ice rink – is the premises of Marmor Pauly, which has been working in natural stone since 1871. “A knife doesn’t always have to be made of steel,” thought owner Armin B. Pauly, architect and graduate civil engineer.

And it doesn’t have to be handy either: together with the self-employed stone sculptor Hartmut Hegener, he created a butter knife sculpture on a scale of 10:1 to place in front of the entrance to the trade fair and point out that, in addition to the proud steel tradition, there are also many years of stone masonry activity. The knife measures 2.30 meters with a handle made of polished Anröchter Grünstein, a calcareous sandstone from the Soest region. The finely ground blade made of “Belgian granite”, the Belgian equivalent of Aachen bluestone, was made with ground-in fiberglass reinforcement. The contrast between the darker blade and the lighter handle is enhanced by the different cut, which makes the Belgian bluestone appear particularly dark. For installation, the artwork was anchored on a base stone made of black Swedish in the area of the main entrance.

Art exhibition flanked the trade fair

Because Pauly is a cosmopolitan, art-loving person and the “knife made of natural stone” contains a wink at other materials, an art exhibition with a wide variety of materials was held on his factory premises opposite the trade fair from June 8 – 10, 2018 – in addition to works by sculptors and painters, including steel sculptures by Thomas Röthel and Stephan Mensler. This created a bridge between materials and street sides.

After the event ended, however, the city of Solingen showed no interest in keeping the potential postcard motif in front of the ice rink – so the monstrous knife will soon find a new home with a well-known steelware manufacturer.

The Federal Republic of Germany has been commissioning art in architecture for its buildings in Germany and abroad since 1950. Over the decades, around 10,000 works have been created. Natural stone works are also included. Now the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR) is making the works of art digitally accessible – via the online platform “Museum of 1000 Places”. In conversation with Dr. Ute […]

The Federal Republic of Germany has been commissioning art in architecture for its buildings in Germany and abroad since 1950. Over the decades, around 10,000 works have been created. Natural stone works are also included. Now the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR) is making the works of art digitally accessible – via the online platform “Museum of 1000 Places”. In conversation with Dr. Ute Chibidziura, consultant for art in construction at the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning, about the ambitious project.

Ute Chibidziura: It’s an online presentation for the federal government’s art in construction. In other words, art that is created in connection with construction projects. Since 1950, art in construction has been realized in federal buildings, so that over the years an internationally unique stock of post-war art has been created, which includes the works of many well-known artists in all genres and techniques. We wanted to present this collection of art, which is spread across hundreds of properties in Germany and abroad, in a bundled form.

Many works of art are not accessible to the public …

One peculiarity of art in architecture is that it is tied to the building and is realized in places that are only accessible to a few people for security reasons or, like embassies, are in geographically remote locations. As a result, there are numerous works of art that are little known or have fallen out of sight over the years. With the “Museum of 1000 Places”, we can bring them back into the public eye and make them accessible to the general public.

Why in the form of a virtual collection?

The collection comprises around 10,000 works of art in total. We couldn’t present them in an illustrated book or in an exhibition – that would go beyond any organizational and personnel framework. The “Museum of 1000 Places”, on the other hand, is structured in such a way that works of art can be added bit by bit and the museum grows continuously. In addition, changes can be made to the content at any time. Art in architecture would be difficult to show in a traditional exhibition anyway, because in order to illustrate its location in the spatial context, you would have to build a model of each room or building and prepare picture galleries and texts for it, which would mean an enormous amount of work for just a few examples. Another advantage of a virtual exhibition is that it is not tied to a specific location, but can be viewed from home via the Internet.

How does the digital museum visitor navigate through the site?

There are several ways to access the art: an intuitive one via the images of the artworks on the homepage, a systematic one via the artworks, artists or locations tabs and one via the free text search. Within the artworks, you can sort by technique or context of use.

What information can you find when you call up a work of art?

You will find detailed information about the artwork in its architectural context, about the building and the property, and of course about the artist. It explains the artist’s career, the focus of their work and where else they have realized art on buildings. All information and photos relating to a work of art are stored in the form of a PDF that can be downloaded.

How does the virtual museum build a bridge to the physical world?

The museum indicates whether a work of art is freely accessible or at least open to the public, so that you can also view Kunst am Bau as part of a Sunday stroll. In addition, all works of art will gradually be equipped with a QR code that can be used to link to the “Museum of 1000 Places” to obtain detailed information about the work of art.

Which works of art are made of natural stone?

One important example is the “Rising Phoenix” by Hannes Schulz-Tattenpach on the Old House of Representatives in Bonn. This work of art made of limestone was the first work to be selected and commissioned after the Second World War as part of an open art-in-architecture competition. The phoenix rising from the ashes was intended to refer to the situation of the Federal Republic of Germany at the time, which had to reorganize itself as a democratic state after the war. The motif was still considered so apt in 1974 that it was used as a stamp on a special postcard issued by Deutsche Post to mark the 25th anniversary of the Federal Republic.

You can take a look at the database here: www.museum-der-1000-orte.de.