PLASTIKENZAUN

2023
 

7:30 min,
HD Video

Plastikenzaun (Sculpture Fence) is the title of a 1966 work by Austrian artist Kurt Goebel (1906-1991) on the lawn of a public housing complex in Vienna‘s 11th district, according to the public database on Viennese art in public space. It is not clear that Plastikenzaun is the actual title of the work – in the only available catalogue of the artist with an image of the work, it is called Freistehende Plastik – Freestanding Sculpture. Over the last half century, the abstract sculpture has become overgrown with vegetation and is now partially visible through the bushes and trees around it.
This sculpture is the subject of a video work of the same name. What is it? Are those volumes body parts? Is it a text? Just abstract shapes? And the plants?
 
It seems unlikely that the artist intended the work to become overgrown. In the 1981 catalogue, it is shown freestanding on a lawn, and a catalogue text refers to some conflict around the foliage. But how are we to understand the plants today? An embrace, a camouflage, an attempt to hide the work or to integrate it into the surrounding garden? In any case, the trees and bushes bear witness to the passage of time and to half a century of everyday life around the sculpture.
The camera‘s perspective alternates between shots of the sculpture‘s surface and its surroundings. The sculpture, however, remains in focus at all times, both as an object and as a frame for the events taking place in the background.

Plastikenzaun on Vimeo