Ofenrohr / Stovepipe

As an imposing structure with an exposed concrete facade, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf serves as a prime example of brutalist architecture. However, the black stovepipe projecting from the facade along Kay-und-Lore-Lorentz-Platz would be better suited to a weathered old building and creates a disorienting and ironic contrast to the architecture. The flue is an exterior extension of Joseph Beuys installation Loch / Hole, which was part of a group exhibition on the subject “black.” When the exhibition ended, the Stovepipe remained in place on the facade and is still there today as a gift from the artist. During the exhibition, the Stovepipe had a corresponding opening inside of the building. The Hole was installed flush with the wall of the exhibition space on second floor of the Kunsthalle. At first glance, this opening looked like a flat, circular, dark black spot on the wall. The intense black of the soot particles inside the tube absorbed all of the light, so that it was impossible to perceive any open space. However, the artist himself was less concerned with a lesson on the aesthetics of perception and more preoccupied with notions of the interior, particularly the inner workings of humanity, which can’t be seen and initially remain in the dark. This darkness is realized in the installation of a hole and stovepipe, which represent features of a transitional situation.