Rocking Church

Concepts

About the project

Rocking Church is a large kinetic sculpture, of which the focal point is a 3 meter high replica of the Gothic church Ulm Minster. The wooden model has been mounted on rockers and oscillates back and forth of its own volition, accompanied by the sound of a ringing church bell.

The church model before it was painted
A found Object

Ulm minster is located in Ulm, Germany – the hometown of one of Humans since 1982’s founding artists. The church replica itself is a found object, initially created as a recreational passion project by an 80-year-old modeler from Germany. The original maker had already sold the church to a Mr. Frank R. Schindler of Neu-Ulm, who agreed to pass it over to Humans since 1982 to create Rocking Church.

Now transformed through its incorporation into an assemblage sculpture, Rocking Church bears surrealist qualities and lacks fixed meaning. It brings together two seemingly discordant symbols – the church and a child’s toy – to encourage multiple implications and explore the potential of playfulness in relation to artistic creations. Combining skilled craftsmanship with the intervention of an artist studio, Rocking Church collapses assumptions about the hierarchies of making in favour of celebrating the curiosity and perseverance required to complete any creative project from concept through to realisation.

Title

Rocking Church

Year

2020

Dimension

3250 x 1170 x 3050 mm / 128 x 46 x 120 in.

Material

Black coated wood and MDF, metal, electronic components, loudspeaker.

Edition information

Unique

The artwork is over 300 cm high.

Rocking Church

Rocking Church is a large kinetic sculpture, of which the focal point is a 3 meter high replica of the Gothic church Ulm Minster.

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