1989 – Steel sculpture ‘Kiel-Säule’ by Erich Hauser, Kiel, Germany. Photo © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
(Continued from this post.)
The way back lead us along the brand new building of the central post office, and we passed another piece of Kiel art: “Look, this artwork also has a maritime heritage. It’s called ‘Seawind’. It’s impressive how the artist…” I was looking for words. My Bavarian friend could not hold back and finished the sentence for me: “…how the artist expresses that you, from Schleswig-Holstein, are constantly looking for peace, blown by the wind from west towards the east! – That’s what you wanted to say, right,” he teased. And I admitted: “Well, you’ve nailed it.”
Later in the evening – the embarrassing afternoon was already forgotten – we visited the university of a joint friend, the Muthesius-Schule, where countless excellent sculptors, graphic artists and designers have been educated. Much to my surprise, there were rocks in front of the building. I had not seen these before. Were we looking at Kiel Art again?
Now the eyes of my Bavarian friend started to widen, and with an almost extatic voice he murmured: “This piece of art shows the different cultures, the north-south slope. On one hand the saturated greens of the meadows in northern Germany, on the other hand the deep fear of rocks and mountains. And over there, that pile of junk, that’s the GDR with all their environmental problems.” He paused and finally continued: “Yes, this is true art.”
Maybe I should have explained that these rocks were just leftovers from the Muthesius-Schule and that the trash was indeed just trash. But I didn’t. And so my visitor returned to the Bavarian metropolis in the strong belief that you get to see genuine art in Kiel.
(First published in gaga, May/June 1989.)
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | Spring 1989 |
| Location | Kiel, Germany |
| Camera | Canon AE-1 Program |
| Image Source | Ilford FP-4 Negative Film |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 4534 x 6801 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
Zanzig.com Photo Hub 