Monheimer Geysir / Monheim Geyser

The “Monheimer Geysir” is definitely among the most popular, but also the most controversial works installed in recent years, though the issue was always less about its artistic content than about the circumstances. For the roundabout by the Rhine, Thomas Stricker, who frequently examines the interrelationships between nature and art in his practice, created an artificial biotope that seems taken from the rough nature of Iceland with its rocks, mosses, hot springs and geysers. The eruption of the “Geysir” with its up to 12-metre-high water fountain also seems random, but is in fact carefully calculated: Whenever 64 hours of sunshine have been collected and the wind and temperature are right, a four-hour eruption phase occurs, which is announced on the website of the city of Monheim

During this eruption phase, a mobile traffic light system regulates the traffic around the geyser in order to prevent any danger to road users. This paradoxical situation intended by the artist was enough to cause a storm of outrage preceding the installation in a country where smooth automobile traffic enjoys top priority but which nonetheless registers several hundred kilometres of traffic jams every day. Even though the “Geysir” has become very popular today and is one of the new landmarks of the City of Monheim, this highly engineered piece of nature is still capable of questioning existing processes and values: “Moreover, the geyser achieves what we like to expect from art but what is rarely realised in works in public space: It is a disturbance. It requires patience and spontaneity. It forces people to become aware of it – if only every few weeks.”
monopol magazin online