Les fleurs du mal / Flowers for Marl

The title of Charles Baudelaire’s 1857 poetry collection Les fleurs du mal is commonly translated as The Flowers of Evil. This title is used to create a play on words in Mischa Kuball’s Flowers for Marl and serves as the starting point for the sculpture. The work itself offers residents a small opportunity to engage with the city design. It is made up of two corresponding elements: One part is a back-lit sign that has the French title of the famous poetry collection written in stainless steel letters. The text is mounted to the upper edge of the facade of the Marl Rathaus above a flight of stairs in a widely visible and prominent location. The second part of the sculpture is less conspicuous: A large concrete vase on the ground in front of the building beside the stairs makes reference to the material and aesthetics of the 1960’s architecture. Together, the two sculptural elements offer the unspoken suggestion to literally fill the vase with Flowers for Marl, creating an individually designed, colorful, and lively counterpart to the concrete-dominated facade. The sculpture can also more broadly be understood as an invitation for Marl residents to “personally activate and shape the administrative city center through participation, interaction, reflection, and discussion” (Mischa Kuball). This work is part of the artist’s series of “public prepositions,” which are proposals for the public that deal with participation in public space.
Further reading: Mischa Kuball – public preposition, ed. by Vanessa Joan Müller. Berlin 2015.
Reference: www.public-preposition.net