Hohe Treppe / High Stairs

Hubert Kiecol erected High Stairs in 1987 on a direct visual axis to the nearby Münster Lambertikirche. In this location, the sculpture immediately evokes notions of man’s quest for transcendence. The work is a tall rectangular pillar that ends in several steps at the top. With this sculpture, the artist takes the classic pedestal to the point of absurdity: the pillar here doesn’t elevate a sculpture up to the viewer’s line of sight, but instead is the artwork itself. On top of that, the stairs are so far above normal eye level that they seem unreachable.
In its reduced geometric form, the sculpture now blends in with the architectural ensemble of its new location: it marks the transition between the old and new buildings of architect Oswald Mathias Ungers’s home and studio. From 1989 to 1990, he had a library added to the estate. The property is now home to the Ungers-Archiv für Architekturwissenschaft (UAA) / Ungers Archive for Architectural Studies (UAA).

References:
http://m.skulpturenfuehrer.de/de/skulpturenfuehrer-koeln/ort/hohe-treppe
http://www.lwl.org/skulptur-projekte-download/muenster/87/kiecol/