Marjetica Potrč :
Installation For Grafenegg Schlosspark

Project no longer on view

The Slovenian artist Marjetica Potrč is one of the best-known and most influential artists of her country, which borders on Austria. She installed a drinking fountain on the western edge of the park. Her ensemble, Drinking Water, provides an alternative infrastructure. To provide strollers with refreshment at a remote location on the grounds the artist developed a self-sufficient and self-contained system that functions like nature itself: rainwater collected on location is cooled and purified through deep layers of earth to feed a drinking fountain. The energy for the purification of the water is generated by solar panels. These panels are to be understood as a specific reference to the trees in the park, which generate energy by means of photosynthesis. In addition, the solar panels and wooden platform are sculptures that mark a location where visitors to the park can rest, have a drink and enjoy the view of the stately home — situated as the artwork is at the end of a viewing access facing the building. With her work the artist intervenes in the existing image of the location while delivering a commentary on the existing economic and social reality.
Marjetica Potrč is an artist who believes in the political power that individual initiatives can generate. Which is why her works are also connected to communication and interaction, making practical use of the interface between art and service. Natural resources are key to her in this context, as are the smallest of micro-projects that protect these resources.
(Brigitte Huck)

Out of technical reasons this project was removed in Summer 2016.