Bogomir Ecker, Sculpture for the Land Central Bank in Oldenburg, 1999

Bogomir Ecker, Sculpture for the Land Central Bank in Oldenburg, 1999, coloured lacquered metal, 13-part installation ©VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Bogomir Ecker, Sculpture for the Land Central Bank in Oldenburg, 1999, coloured lacquered metal, 13-part installation

A red figure is firmly ensconced on the forecourt of the Bundesbank’s Oldenburg branch. Like an oversized marionette, it sits in the centre of a four-part sculpture series by Bogomir Ecker which extends inside the building. The uniform red colouring of the funnels and cylinders with their circular openings unites the individual elements. Their colour and material form a dramatic contrast to the rather cool appearance of the building.

Two red conical funnels lying on a round platform in the middle of the semicircular forecourt are the eye-catching starting point and also the key to interpreting the ensemble. Resembling something of a cross between a viewing funnel and an ear trumpet, they represent fundamental and universal modes of perception. Ecker’s sculptural installation with its four ‘stations’ is designed as a communication channel, whose vivid colour-space-form arrangement signposts and guides the way from the outside to the inside. Together with the figure they form the props for an interactive theatrical performance, whose principal actors are the visitors to the bank building and passers-by.