Große Zylinderspaltung / Great Cylinder Split

Alf Lechner’s sculptures can be experienced in larger numbers in his museum in Ingolstadt and in his sculpture park in Obereichstätt, both founded by the artist himself. Two of the prolific artist’s works are found near the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg. While one of his cube constructions is displayed in the park, the “Zylinderspaltung”, already impressive through the impact of its material, stands right in front of the entrance. It is a three-metre-high massive forged steel cylinder, split lengthwise in the middle and positioned so the surfaces created by the split point outwards, while the curves of the cylinder stand back-to-back. The eye is thus directed to the inner volume of the cylinder, usually hidden from sight, to the structures of the steel created by casting and then splitting it. They are reminiscent of a bird’s eye view of a rock massif and give the impression of great forces working on the material, just like mountains may have been created by the compression of tectonic plates in prehistoric times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnbKNiM0CLg