GEREON LEPPER

AUS DEN BERGEN DES MONDES (‘from the mountains of the moon’), prototype

1999
Neuss port

In a model-like circulatory system, Aus den Bergen des Mondes, a fountain sculpture, represents the natural development of a river from its wild beginnings in the mountains to its calm gliding progress through low plains. The watercourse is formed by a system of gutters of ring segment shape, in conical arrangement one over the other. The water, pumped to the central, highest point of the construction, cascades into each lower section of guttering in turn. Initially the drops are quite high and the watercourse changes directions abruptly. Ultimately the continual widening in the guttering section calms the water flow until, on the lowest level, it is guided as a calm river to a central standpipe to be pumped back up to the source segment.