KölnSkulptur#7

05.05.2013
Group Exhibition

For the sculpture park in Cologne, Karin Sander created the multipart work Paradise 231 in 2013. The title is the name of a particular variety of artificial turf. Seven circular areas of this artificial turf were put down in various places in the park, replacing the existing greenery. These areas are based on the idea of creating special places in the park to settle, to picnic, to lie down, to read – in short, to find a place of calm from which the surrounding nature can be observed or, conversely, the human figure reclining or seated on the circle becomes part of the image of the park, as has often been depicted in the history of art. The users on the circular forms become (living) figures in the sculpture park; the greenery seems to be their pedestal. But even when they are not being used, these forms of artificial turf create a visual-conceptual network that extends across the entire park. These places of evergreen forms we encounter when walking through the park become connected in our minds, and over the changing seasons we notice the color contrasting with the color of the natural terrain. Thus Karin Sander’s work turns out to be the fulfilled promise of art in a sculpture park, of a sculpture that, as its title suggests, wants to be paradise, as a metaphor for eternal happiness.

Text: Friedrich Meschede (Translation: Steven Lindberg)