Zufuhr / Intake

A very tall bronze rises – as if dropped from the sky – in front of the extension of the Stadtsparkasse Wuppertal. It is a work by Tony Cragg, the Wuppertaler-by-choice and master of the never-before-seen and yet memory-provoking form. This drop-shaped object, too, shining like gold and perforated by 25000 round holes, which appears light and dynamic despite its size, is perceived as autonomous art. It is in fact an art within architecture project, the result of a competition to hide an intake air duct for the building’s air conditioning system. Quite untypical of Tony Cragg’s work, form follows function in this instance, albeit unnoticeable to the viewers. “Zufuhr” (Intake) is part of a group of Cragg’s works for which he used perforated metal surfaces, which open views into and through the objects, make interleaving possible and lend lightness to the forms. This group also includes “Envelope” (1996) and “Ferryman” (1997).