2024

auf Anfrage zugänglich

Neubau Haus für Kinder Fortnerstraße 11, 80933 München

Plastische Realisierung der Figurengruppe: Elisabeth Wieberneit
Figurengruppe: Bronze, unterschiedlich patiniert, ca. 60 x 80 x 80 cm; Sockel: Beton, 70 x 90 x 90 cm; Forum: 400 x 400 cm
Boden: Fallschutzbelag lichtgrau
Sitzbänke: Beton; Komposter: Beton
HPL-Platten, 80 x 90 x 140 cm
Krone: Bronze, Durchmesser 23 cm
Zwei Duo Obstbäume mit jeweils zwei unterschiedlichen Sorten an Kern-und Steinobst

Architecture: Entwurf: Meissler Architekten, München. Werkplanung und Bauausführung: Asböck Architekten, München

Landscape architecture: mahl·gebhard·konzepte Landschaftsarchitekten, München

Photos: Judith Buss Fotografie

Text: Roberta De Righi

What is nature, and are humans and nature diametrically opposed? Initially, one might regard double fruit trees as a miracle or, at second glance, simply the successful grafting of fruit trees. In “Hortus Parvulorum”, Wolfgang Groh’s artwork for the day care center on Fortnerstraße, nature transformed by humans is an integral component of the artistic ensemble.

‘Hortus Parvulorum’ literally means ‘children’s garden.’ Just as the environment plays an important role in the facility with its extensive garden, the artistic intervention also takes its cue from nature. Groh has used four different elements to define this place of learning and experience in the outdoor space. The result is a small square in the greenery; an intimate area where the children can explore the world of flora and fauna and exchange ideas with the nature educators.

The four-by-four meter area has a slip-resistant surface and is surrounded on two sides by a concrete corner bench. The Munich artist planted a small, grafted tree with apples and stone fruit in each of the two corners. In summer, the children and teachers can see two different varieties of apples growing on one tree and small Mirabelle plums and another plum variety on the other.

The work, however, focuses conceptually not only on how we deal with nature; it also thematically visualizes it. In its center a group of patinated bronze figures are mounted on a pedestal and encounter the children at eye level. Created by the sculptor Elisabeth Wieberneit , the work depicts four young children—two girls and two boys—hard at work. Two stand directly on the balancing plinth, straining to keep a stack of beams in balance. This is particularly difficult, as the other two youngsters are on the four stacked beams, which, in turn, carry a lush garland of fruit and leaves. The wreath is inspired by ancient Roman depictions symbolizing the celebration of nature and its fruits as a gift from the gods. The sculpture similarly demonstrates the great effort involved in maintaining the fragile balance between nature and mankind.

On a corner of the small square forum, facing the daycare center, there is a ‘crowned’ locked cabinet. A treasure chest, perhaps? Possibly. Behind its closed door, the “compost critters” are hard at work turning the organic waste they have been fed into valuable soil. They remain invisible to us, but a horde of tiny creatures ensures that the garden remains fertile and the trees will continue to bear fruit in the future. These tiny organisms deserve a crown for their work.

“A garden is not an object, but a process,”[1] the Scottish writer and artist Ian Hamilton Finlay once wrote. In “Hortus Parvulorum” Wolfgang Groh illustrates this development as a cycle of growth and decay.

[1]  Ian Hamilton Finlay, Unconnected Sentences on Gardening, in: “Nature over again after Poussin,” exhibition catalogue, Glasgow, Collins Exhibition Hall, 1980, [no pagination].