Isa Genzken

In 1987 Isa Genzken located her work ABC in the shape of a double arch on the upper deck of the university library, to the left of the main entrance. At their base the individual elements were secured to a projecting section of the building. The construction consisted of three vertical concrete supports that merged into a single flat area and were topped by two metal frames. Like the two arches the frames also varied in height and breadth.¹ In her choice of materials the artist was influenced by the forms of bare building shells, which in her view give a better impression of an architect’s intentions than the completed buildings with façades made of “pseudo precious materials”.² With these arched constructions the artist transformed the upper level around the main building of the university library into a passage, thereby redefining the setting and integrating it into the city’s pathways.

Alina Beckmann

¹ Ulrich Wilmes, “ABC”, in: Klaus Bußmann and Kasper König (eds.), Skulptur Projekte in Münster 1987, exhib. cat. Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster, Cologne, 1987, pp. 94–96.

² Isa Genzken, “ABC”, in: ibid., p. 94.