WARBURG SPIRALE. UN MONUMENT AUX VIVANTS, 2002

Painted wood, metallic structure, banana tree
1.70 × 17.06 × 12.65 m

Technical conception: in collaboration with Rob Engel
Permanent installation, Place de la République, Strasbourg, France

Commissioned by the Urban Community of Strasbourg in the context of the construction of the Line B of the Tramway.

Curator: Christian Bernard

Warburg Spirale. Un Monument Aux Vivants

Place de la République / Strasbourg

Installation view / 2019

Warburg Spirale was created as part of a program of public commissions accompanying the construction of the second line of the Strasbourg tramway network. Located on Place de la République, in the heart of the European capital, it pays homage to Jewish intellectuals, specifically the German art historian Aby Warburg (1866–1929), whose studies at the University of Strasbourg proved decisive for his later work. A kind of “bench” in the shape of an ascending spiral, this “monument to the living” encourages idleness and letting go, as the artist pointed out: “In planned urban environments, you won’t find any spirals, because they make you waste time: if you enter, you must retrace your steps to get out.”

Warburg Spirale. Un Monument Aux Vivants
Place de la République / Strasbourg
Drawing and Maquette / 2002

Warburg Spirale. Un Monument Aux Vivants

Place de la République / Strasbourg

Installation view / 2019

Warburg Spirale. Un Monument Aux Vivants

Place de la République / Strasbourg

Installation view / 2019

Warburg Spirale. Un Monument Aux Vivants

Exhibition view MUDAM / Luxemburg

Drawing / 2002 / courtesy Bert Theis Archive

Maquette / 1999 /courtesy Collection Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris