Heimo Zobernig :
Käferberg in Langenlois

Located on Käferberg in Langenlois, in the midst of the Bründlmayer wine estate, this sculpture is clearly visible from afar and can immediately be interpreted as a grape and thus as an emblem or symbol of the locality. However, since it is untitled, this sculpture could equally well be associated with molecules, crystals, air bubbles, the Michelin man or indeed with many other things. In fact, it is a geometrical abstract form created by Heimo Zobernig in accordance with his own subjective formal sense – a towering seven-metre-high structure comprising 130 hollow balls made of untreated steel, the patination of which was caused by rusting and was part of Zobernig’s concept. The arrangement of the balls is a bold one: only three of them form the basis for the other 127, all of which are welded together at their points of contact. Statically, this presented a considerable challenge for those specialists entrusted with setting it up. Optically, it produces an equally exciting and delicate structure, the effect of which might be compared with the twisted bodies of mannerist figurae serpentinatae, or with those much-admired equestrian statues, the whole weight of which rests on the two rear legs of the horse. As always, Heimo Zobernig is here concerned with the question of how an effect arises through a certain form, with the interpretations that this effect then evokes and with the relevance which these interpretations then acquire in particular surroundings, not only with respect to content but also from a social point of view.
(Eva Badura-Triska)

Technical planning and realisation:
Michael Prodinger