GEREON LEPPER

EULEN FANGEN [Catching owls]

1996
H 8.0 m / W 8.5 m / D 1.2 m
Horstmarer See, Lünen

The premise for this project was a former mining site undergoing conversion to a landscaped park at the eastern periphery of the Ruhr region. This involved the flooding of a depression which mining subsidence had left in the middle of the site. A lake covering some forty hectares resulted, and this I made the setting for three floating, dinghy-like sculptures moored to concrete anchors about 60 metres apart on 40-metre cables. Within the radius of play given by the cables, the objects can move freely. Exploiting the functional principles of a kite, a balance is struck at a certain angle 'on the wind', between the energy of the wind and the natural forces pertaining at the sail. If the wind suddenly alters direction, the 'boats' veer out of control the 'owls' are 'caught'. Their drift is checked after a distance governed by the length of the guys. An outrigger-style construction turns the boats back into the critical angle to the wind so that their forward course is resumed. The particular sequence of motion of the sculptures is unpredictable - which I would equate with 'infinite'. It is as if the three 'boats' were continually going with the wind, on an endless journey.