2024
öffentlich zugänglich
AWO's Fredl Jugendfreizeitstätte, Bodenseestraße 186, 81243 München
44-teilige Installation, Edelstahl elektropoliert & gekantet, 19,8 x 2,6 m
Architecture: MHH-Architekten, München
Landscape architecture: Wolfgang Niemeyer Landschaftsarchitektur, München
Photos: Florian Holzherr
Text: Dr. Christa Häusler
Like a shimmering, composite ribbon, the decidedly reflective metal steles appear to glide along the facade of the new addition to the AWO’s Fredl Youth Recreation Center. Valerie Kiock and Zeno Dietrich designed their “Reflexes” installation for the south and east sides of the building on Bodenseestrasse. The new structure marks the first installment of the extensive public and cross-district green space, which is accessed via a promenade that runs parallel to the building. The structure’s L-shaped floor plan, which has a covered entrance area open on two sides and a transparent entry, provides a direct view into the private garden inside. Valerie Kiock and Zeno Dietrich appropriated this aspect of transparency and contrasted it with the spectacle of reflection.
The serial arrangement of the fifteen-centimeter wide, floor-to-ceiling elements contrasts with the various fractured shapes that create the light reflections on the reflective metal. The prevailing conditions of the surroundings, including vehicles, clouds and trees, form an ever-changing image that rhythmically breaks through the clearly structured wall of terracotta-colored clinker bricks, and even appears to dissolve it. “The Fredl” is a place of activity, a workshop,” Valerie Kiock notes, “so the art in the building should also reflect this.” And indeed it does: the integration of daylight creates the reflections the artists desire. At first, they appear as an illusion to passers-by and the young visitors at the Fredl. Are the steles adorned with figurative motifs? Are they openings or windows that permit a look behind the facade?
The interior and exterior spaces seem to penetrate each other; it is only at second glance that the materiality of the steles–including one’s own, persistent reflection–is evident. The interplay of transparency and reflection is both irritating and surprising, as passers-by also become actors and assist in determining the motif of the fleeting image. The Fredl is a meeting place where children and young adults come to play sports, learn and engage with each other. All visitors enter the building through the double-winged glass door, which is also the center from which the artists determined the sequence of the steel elements. The rhythm of their spacing is inspired by the circular waves that a skipping stone makes in the water without following an overly-rigid pattern. This creates unexpected perspectives for the viewer and constantly redefined spaces and surroundings.
The diverse aspects of this work, its self-confident dialogue with the architecture and playful engagement with its surroundings and outside space are inspiring, even cheerful. “Reflexes” is an invitation to engage and exchange directed at both Fredl visitors as well as at the residents and passers-by on their way into the park.