On the Marktplatz in Karlsruhe, Germany, Argentinean artist Leandro Erlich amazes passers-by and residents with a spectacular large-scale installation. Pulled by the Roots is the title of the work that gives a construction crane an unusually heavy load to carry: there are not any construction materials, containers or machines hanging on the “art crane’s” steel cables – in total contrast to the other cranes in the city. An entire house floats at a lofty height above the construction site. Architecturally modelled on a historical building by Friedrich Weinbrenner, the building literally appears to have been ripped out of one of the neighbouring roads by its roots.
Pulled by the Roots is part of Germany’s summer festival “The City Is The Star” that presents a selection of large-scale installations by international artists that have been curated by the ZKM | Center for Art and Media. During the summer festival, Karlsruhe’s city centre looks like one monumentally huge construction site. The invited artists intervene in the dynamic process of construction work with their installations, sculptures and performances. They artistically process the construction sites. The machinery and materials for the construction work are partly reflected in the works of art. Resulting in the questions: Is it an artistic installation or construction site, an artistic intervention or construction work? Is it art or work? Are the people you see on the construction site artists or workers? The result is a new genre: not art at the building site, but in the process of building, construction site art.
Pulled by the Roots and the other installations will be on show until September 27, 2015.
images by Fidelis Fuchs / © ZKM | Karlsruhe