Artist Gijs Van Vaerenbergh shared with us his recent project, Framework, a monumental geometric sculpture, which was recently on display in Leuven, above the ring road on the Artoisplein. With this sculpture, Vaerenbergh has once more produced a work in the public space that is based on the language and expertise of the architecture to create an autonomous art object. The result has become a tangible spatial drawing that plays on the visual experience of the object in space as well as the environment. Both interact and determine each other’s ‘view’. More images and artist’s description after the break.
The sculpture was created as a result of the Sol LeWitt exhibition, Colors in M – Museum Leuven, but LeWitt’s conceptual work only acts as the starting point for the duo’s free interpretation in their own work. Their actual inspiration is LeWitt’s incomplete open cube 6/24 sculpture or ‘structure’, which is part of a series of works inspired by a cube. This minimal and abstract form, which LeWitt consciously designed on a human scale, has been blown up by Gijs Van Vaerenbergh into a monumental sculpture that clearly interacts with the public space. Several transformations – such as tilting the cube and the unusual use of tower crane components for the construction – result in the form losing its minimal character and becoming a landmark in the urban landscape.
Framework is a sculpture of 75 ton that rests on three points. The work was mounted in one day, first upright and then tilted over the road. In its upright position it reached a height of 24m. When tilted, the highest point reaches 17m. The installation uses standard tower crane elements with special corner elements to make a loop.
Artist: Gijs Van Vaerenbergh (collaboration of Pieterjan Gijs & Arnout Van Vaerenbergh) Location: J.M. Artoisplein, 3000 Leuven, Belgium Structural Studies: Util Struktuurstudies Execution: Neremat NV (Tower Cranes) / Cravero bvba (Corner elements) Commissioner: City of Leuven Date: September 1-November 5, 2012
