Sigrid Kurz :
Old Peoples’s Home in Orth a.d. Donau

Of the various possible sites for an artistic intervention, Sigrid Kurz selected the conservatory which extends over three floors and has a two-story high window in the front. The artist's intention was to focus on the inhabitants of the home and to create a special focus for them with her mural. The conservatory as a quiet and relaxing place was well suited as a setting. The segment-like silkscreen images of various Mediterranean flowers and trees, based on idealized landscape drawings from the 19th century, were juxta- and superposed. The actual view is directed at the contiguous green area (sports grounds), while the imaginary view is drawn into the intrinsic time of romantic beauty. The landscape is a place of nostalgic and paradisiacal journeys that always begin anew and are continued. They have nothing to do with reality, since they take place beyond the dynamic of growth and blossoming. Their state activates memories when the space around older people shrinks, yet at the same time memories demand a lot of space to be able to gaze into the distance. Here, however, the viewer is bound to a flexible standpoint, for he/she keeps seeing new fragments and images. A potentially paradisiacal complete image is thereby shattered. The viewer should not stare at something but rather let his/her gaze wander, which means that he/she remains active and alert and the flow of memories is not interrupted.
(Susanne Neuburger)