Freude und Erkennungszeichen / Sign of Joy and Recognition

This sculpture is over 5 meters high and weighs over 1,600 kilograms. It stands on a tall pedestal and is screwed together out of different colored rustproof parts. It took the artist half a year to assemble the 612 steel profiles, which are grouped around a core and mutually support each other, giving the structure a static strength. Moving away from the center, the profiles are bent at increasingly sharp angles. The material and design look like a technical-constructive model, breaking the purposeless object down into its static and dynamic lines of force. In view of the sense inner movement that radiates from the sculpture, one student’s remark during the unveiling is completely understandable: “it looks like a slot car race track, but too steep!”
Over the course of decades, the work was forgotten. The colors of the profiles faded and it was overgrown with plants. However, at the end 2011, two working groups from the Initiativkreis Nordstadt took an interest in the sculpture. On their insistence, it was uncovered again and the Rhine district pledged to cover the costs of the subsequent thorough refurbishment of the artwork.

Source: Skulpturen in Neuss Author: Dr. Christian Frommert