Pavilion for Waiblingen

Since 2009, a sculpture by Danish artist Ólafur Elíasson donated by the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation has graced the ensemble of the Galerie and art school on the river Rems. The Pavilion for Waiblingen captures the theme of water (river Rems) and the industrial-like architecture of the art school and Galerie and thus concurs with the artist’s great theme: "the dialogue between nature and art" – the search for physical laws in nature and their hidden relationship with the artificial environment created by man.

The "Pavilion for Waiblingen" is a kind of stylized fountain made of different sweeping steel arms. The jets spring from the middle to different heights and "plunge" back into the ground. As a Dane with Icelandic roots, Elíasson himself likes to use the metaphor of a geyser or vulcano. Following a visit to Waiblingen, during which the artist inspected the site on which his work was to stand, he developed an almost six meter high sculpture weighing several tons. Together with his 40 colleagues (art historians, technicians, etc.) the "Pavilion for Waiblingen" was created in his Berlin studio – a one-time railway depot – in less that one and a half years. The award-winning Dane is one of the most sought-after artists internationally.

As far as Olafur Eliasson is concerned, the "Pavilion for Waiblingen" is a meeting place. The choice of name was not unimportant in this context: the artist regards taking a seat in a public space as a democratic act.