GEREON LEPPER

BALZGEFLÜSTER (‘courtship whispers’)

1996
H 9 m / W 11 m / D 1 m
Skulpturenweg Rheinland-Pfalz / Sculpture Trail

The sculpture Balzgeflüster is a system that responds kinetically both to gravity and wind. It consists of two identical elements. In each, a 1.5 tonne COR-TEN steel sheet construction is attached axially on a ball-bearing support upon an eight-metre column of galvanised steel tube. In the absence of wind and thanks to the greater mass being situated below the fulcrum, the COR-TEN structure finds its equilibrium in a horizontal position. Wind striking it from the side disturbs this balance. Owing to the structure’s relatively large mass, it tilts sluggishly into the wind. The sequences of movement of the two elements, given the turbulences of the wind, are never quite synchronised. The impression arises that the two pairs of wings instinctively attune their motions one to the other.