Redbrick, mortar; 320 x 1370 x 820 cm. The artist includes the transformer house when giving the size of his work.
„The church building and the transformer station are confronting each other; something that is definitely wrong. For the truth is: spirituality and technology are not opposing each other, they can perfectly well complement and stimulate each other.“
At least that is the way Hannes Forster (* 1955) defines his environment of 1990. His redbrick work is aligned with the Lutheran church at the Moltkeplatz constructed by Otto Bartning on the opposite side of the street. Hannes Forster´s structure shows the stylized layout of a nave, enveloping one corner of the transformer station. The station thus becomes an integral part of the artwork, representing Enlightenment, modernity, technology, and change; in short, it stands for the challenges faced by religions. The work leads into the world of change. At the same time it shows that it is never too late for art: Eine echte falsche Geschichte / A Genuine Fake Story was only completed by Hannes Forster 22 years after he started its construction.
(Tankred Stachelhaus)
„I wanted to show the change that the church as an institution has gone through over the centuries.“
(Hannes Forster)
Following the longitudinal axis of the sculpture, on the opposite side of the street (Moltkeplatz 17-19 at the corner of Semperstraße), one finds the listed church of the Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche SELK. / Independent Lutheran Church of Essen.
On the occasion of the final completion of the work in May 2012 (see below), Hannes Forster spoke at length about his work and provided quite some introduction and explanation; see WAZ article of 30 May 2012. 22 years earlier, the NRZ had reported on the entire sculpture ensemble created at that time on Moltkeplatz in an artikel dated 22 December 1990..
Documentation
The detailed plan shows the structure of the masonry in a Gothic bond (identical to a Flemish bond according to some sources)
Numerous sheets show various horizontal cuts at different levels.
Final Completion after 22 Years
In May 2012, Hannes Forster finally completed his work that had been (almost) finished in 1990. The laying out of the interior of the work with red brick pavement had been planned at that time, but had not been executed. The final completion in 2012 was made possible by the association KaM. At times members of the association also helped with the work (cf the picture with the youngest KaM member below). The WAZ reported with an article dated 30 May 2012.
More about Hannes Forster and some of his works here (in German).