Who
needs art, we need potatoes
1998
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
The early 19th C. history of the
South German region Württemberg is providing the backdrop for the environment
adjusted to the classicist museum building in Stuttgart. The brothers Boissereé
offered an outstanding collection of German altarpieces and masters around Dürer
to Wilhelm I., King of Württemberg. But his advisors did not agree to that
acquisition. Instead the Bavarian King Ludwig I. bought it and these outstanding
exhibits are part of the collection in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich now.
Because of a recent famine in the country a representative from Württemberg
said it in harsh, suabian words: "Who needs art, we need potatoes". Until today,
every school kid in Suabia knows about that sentence. It's quoted whenever there
are discussions about the importance of art in our society, compared to and
pointing at costs for a new Mercedes or huge buildings.
Our piece is readdressing the attention of the passer-byes and the visitors
of the museum from the post modern museum extension by James Stirling back to
the entrance area of the classicist Staatsgalerie. The classicist museum and
it's Cour d'Honneur is dedicated to the King of Württemberg. His equestrian
statue on a high pedestal stands in a central position on the green in front
of the building.
Commissioned as a centerpiece for that space our work links history, the values,
possessions and the tasks of a museum. Questions about art and life, the role
of art as catalyst for social and cultural developments, our tolerance and our
capacity for new visions and insights evolve.
We tried to create an environment that fits in this space like a glove,
combining the existing traditional artifacts with unobtrusive additions and
the use of electronics, resulting in a dialogue between art, nature and technology.
The new additions are: two potato beds on the green grass, a red carpet
on the stairs leading up to the Portikus and three electronic screens in between
the columns right in front of the entrance. The two round potato beds with golden
frames are located to the left and right of the equestrian statue. The red carpet
links the view and the steps of the visitors to the red text on the screen,
guiding into the museum. The reassuring underlying message is: "Here I come
and I'm welcome in the museum."
The bright light of the screens displays the names of the artists and their
works in the collection inside the building like a continuos flow, reinventing
the traditional habit to attach the names of great artists at buildings dedicated
to the Fine Arts. Every name stands for a unique vision, a body of works, a
reminder for new encounters and experiences, inviting the viewers to come closer
and to study it in detail.
After the potato harvest the two golden frames stay empty until Spring. But
the screens at and the canvases in the museum point out the constant, lasting
independent values in a world full of changes.
Renata Stih & Frieder Schnock, July 1998
