Bridge to the Arts by Loma

On the initiative of the Institute for Design Practice and Art Science at Leibniz Universität Hannover, the access to the institute’s own branch at Königsworther Platz was to be redesigned. The gallery spaces, which are almost invisible from the outside, are to be brought more into the public awareness in order to draw attention to the diverse events and exhibitions.

The supporting and the supported, the serving and the served, “the below” and “the above” can no longer be separated from each other in the sculpture of the 21st century, but enter into a symbiosis – at the latest since Auguste Rodin’s “Citizen of Calais”, the debate about the pedestal has become a variable and also a content-related variable of a work of art, Constantin Brancusi continues the fusion of pedestal and work of art in terms of content to one of the central themes of the visual arts of modern times. The artwork “Bridge to the Arts“ and the structure of the gallery “look and think”, which is anchored in the ground, are firmly linked in terms of content, in that the existing gallery structure is thematized as a pedestal and container for art and is artistically reflected upon by the bridge floating on it. The gallery itself is integrated into the sculptural concept to the point of becoming independent and upgraded as a sculptural element.

The “total” work of art, composed of these two parts, stands in its supporting area at the interface between public and private; its supported area will connect the inner and outer world, the quiet garden of the university with the metropolitan cultural mile, in a parity of balance. The component of the bridge, hovering precisely above the existing concrete staircase, also acts as a servant transmitter between the gallery and the public, designating and reinforcing the only access to art. From an urban planning and artistic point of view, the contextualization and minimalization also refers to the longitudinal extension of the former terrace line oriented towards Königsworther Platz. The “bridge to the arts“, as a fitting piece above the existing staircase, frames and connects the outer tree population with the inner tree population and forms in its extension the intersection between the new building terrace and the garden. The designation of the former terrace facing Königsworther Platz by the bridge artwork recodes the space as now clearly accessible to the public. By approaching the artwork directly at its base, the forecourt becomes part of the gallery and a first possible exhibition space. The garden area of the former Villa Simon represents a quiet, introverted counterpoint to the urban bustling Königsworther Platz and as a transitory garden, seems to have fallen out of time and use. This historical garden space, romanticizing in its form, as a further development of the landscape garden idea in the 19th century and scaled down to the bourgeois context, is to be reinterpreted via its edges in a contemporary form.The garden space becomes playable as complementary to the gallery, which remains committed to the basic idea of the “white cube”. Both spaces, inside and outside, therefore have a serving character for upcoming art productions, a clearly limited frame contrasts with a softly flowing frame. The artwork forms the interface between public and private space, balancing the indoor and outdoor worlds, the quiet garden area with the busy outdoor area at Königsworther Platz. The bridge itself becomes a bridging, entrance accentuation and gateway situation at the same time through the routing and formulation of the components.