Around a third of our food ends up in the bin. The sculpture “Globo Uovo” by Marc Reist has the shape of an egg – and aims to create a dialog about the waste of food and the resources of our earth. “The largest possible surface we have to live on is the earth. In contrast, the smallest is the germ cell, symbolized by […]
Around a third of our food ends up in the bin. The sculpture “Globo Uovo” by Marc Reist has the shape of an egg – and aims to create a dialog about the waste of food and the resources of our earth.
“The largest possible surface we have to live on is the earth. In contrast, the smallest is the germ cell, symbolized by the egg. Both combined become the Globo Uovo – the global egg,” explains the artist, criticizing: “We know about hunger in the world. And still throw it away.”
As eggshells are largely made of calcite, Reist used light-colored marble for the sculpture. An egg from the fridge served as a model: “I photographed the egg, integrated the geometry, drew it with CAD and was thus able to produce an initial model using 3D printing.”
With the finished drawing, the artist made his way to Carrara, where he had already selected a block of marble. This initially weighed 55 tons – material was removed from the inside of the block in the quarry so that the weight was still 15 tons when it was transported to Switzerland.
Preparatory work was also carried out in the quarry to facilitate the stonemason’s work. CAD-controlled milling machines were used to cut the outer shape out of the block, and a scan was used to adjust and position the window cut-outs to the structure of the STEIN.
Weight loss
To symbolize the vulnerability of the earth system, the sculpture is pierced by window-like openings. It was a long road to this form: it was clear from the outset that the Globo Uovo was to be monolithic, i.e. hollowed out from the inside. It therefore had to be large enough to make room for a person.
At 3 x 2.3 meters, Globo Uovo is the largest work the artist has ever created in marble. A sculptural and physical challenge for the artist, as he also had to lose weight to be able to slip into the sculpture. He prescribed himself a diet with the aim of fitting through the first opening. Reist lost a total of 13 kilograms: “Since then, almost more people have been interested in how I managed this than in my work itself. I should write a diet book,” he jokes.
Exhibition at the Dürrenmatt Center Neuchâtel
The Globo Uovo was inaugurated on the roof terrace of the Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchatel museum. No coincidence: like Reist, Friedrich Dürrenmatt also drew a series of eggs with human features in his second vocation as a painter and caricaturist. The drawings from 1976 will be exhibited alongside Globo Uovo until April 15, 2018.
Here you can see the sculptures from the last few months:
