Less Sauvage Than Others / Less Wild Than Others

Rosemarie Trockel, who spent part of her childhood in Schwerte, created a work for the newly designed landscape park. At first glance, it looks like an integrated part of the landscape. Upon closer inspection, something seems a bit off. In the end, the work encourages contemplation, particularly regarding the relationship between art and nature. The park environment looks as if it grew naturally, but most of it is the product of deliberate design. Here, a circular basin was recessed in the ground and furnished with fountains, jets, mist, surge pipes, and lights that perform a predetermined choreography to the inaudible rhythm of the Radetzky March.
First associations with Icelandic geysers or volcanic maars quickly give way to the realization that we are dealing with an artistic staging, subtly making reference to its own kinship with nature. Less Sauvage Than Others is the name of the work, though it remains unclear what is being compared. In any case, the artwork still seems to remain wild like nature, even if it requires an orderly intervention to best convey its intentions.

Additional information:
www.hellweg-ein-lichtweg.de/schwerte
www.rohrmeisterei-schwerte.de/less-sauvage-than-others.html