Tiger & Turtle – Magic Mountain

Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth’s Tiger & Turtle is a landmark that can be best described as a walk-through roller coaster. The power and elegance of a tiger combine here with the proverbial deceleration that is commonly associated with a turtle, creating an artwork that can be experienced with all of the senses.

The work is located atop the Heinrich-Hildebrand-Höhe, a hill made out of toxic waste from the metal industry. At that height, the towering sculpture can be seen as a popular landmark from afar, while also offering visitors a far-reaching panoramic view of the Ruhrgebiet.

Introducing a roller coaster motif, Tiger & Turtle completely redefines its location as a place of leisure and recreation. However, the idea of a roller coaster is also being reinterpreted here: in addition to the aesthetic dimension, it allows visitors to move at their own pace, drawing attention to the individual experience, as well as encounters with other visitors. With this work, the artists have greatly exceeded the self-imposed requirements of public art. Nonetheless, visitors will still inevitably always leave with one unfulfilled wish: to run around the entire loop.

Additional information: http://tigerandturtle.duisburg.de

Further reading:
Tiger & Turtle – Magic Mountain. Eine Landmarke in Duisburg von Heike Mutter und Ulrich Genth / A Landmark in Duisburg by Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth, ed. by Söke Dinkla, Peter Greulich, Karl Jansen, Ostfildern 2011.

Public Art Ruhr. Die Metropole Ruhr und die Kunst im öffentlichen Raum. Eds. Walter Smerling and Ferdinand Ulrich on behalf of the RuhrKunstMuseen, Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-8632-134-0, pp. 126–127.

Video on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwUMts3VvE0