Manfred Pernice :
Installation At Grafenegg Schloss Park

The sculpture door+gate fills the entire opening of the Black Gate in the park wall at Schloss Grafenegg. With typical Baroque theatricality, the gateway has an impressive exterior while being flat and undecorated on the inside, reminiscent of a stage prop. This is where the last felon sentenced to death under Graffenegg jurisdiction had to go through to his place of execution. Manfred Pernice has dedicated an epitaph to him on the park side of his wall-like sculpture, just as he has also dedicated an epitaph to two castle hounds on the side facing the open field. A special grave in the park has been allotted to favourite dogs for centuries. A bench has been positioned on both sides of the wall to pass the time on, and small steps on each side lead to a scaled-down door that opens, to leave or enter the park. A round hole in the upper part of the wall shows a view of the execution grounds, or can be used to peek into the park from outside it. The sculpture has a peculiar naturalness in the whole theatricality of the location: a base area, partly adorned with tiles and made of concrete as a bench and steps, a red brick middle area, and a band of beige bricks complete with holders for barbed wire that closes the object at the top. The now democratic situation of the castle and park once again finds a contemporary form of remembrance in the sculpture.
(Axel Jablonski)