2018

auf Anfrage zugänglich

Haus für Kinder Ilse-Fehling-Straße 37, 81245 München

8 Skulpturen aus glattpoliertem, weißen Laaser Marmor

8 sculptures made of smoothly polished, Lasa marble

Architecture: Architekturbüro Meyer-Sternberg, München

Landscape architecture: Teutsch Ritz Rebmann Landschaftsarchitekten, München

Photos: Eckhart Matthäus und Venske & Spänle

Text: Roberta De Righi

What kind of rare animal has settled down in the daycare center on Ilse Fehling Strasse? The entrance, the building, and the garden are occupied by a small herd of friendly looking, blubbery beasts: they are all about the size of toddlers and bright white. Smörfs in Aubing is the title the Munich-based team of sculptors Julia Venske and Gregor Spänle have given to their architectural art. The duo has created eight magnificent specimens of their Smörfs for Aubing (the westernmost district of Munich), which already exist in a variety of forms in some other places around the world.

And even though they are, strictly speaking, abstract, amorphous forms, they are reminiscent of living creatures: one greets you at the door, five have settled in either the orange-painted niches of the stairwell or on the stairs themselves, and two are hunkered down in the sandbox, facing each other as if engaged in an imaginary conversation. Although they have no faces, they nevertheless appear animate, like trolls or gnomes—mainly due to the fact that most of the rounded figures have a crease in the middle that looks like a very wide, smiling mouth. Minimal means are used to create the astonishing phenomenon of bringing something to life.

The sculptures are made of smoothly polished stone, which might be mistaken for plastic at first glance. Upon closer observation, though, the ancient-looking Lasa marble is a fascinating contrast to their forms, which seem to have sprung from a contemporary comic.

Only the two Smörfs in the niches above the staircase diverge a little bit from the rest of their kind: one is stretched out like an oversized piece of chewing gum, while the other one is limp, as if it were sleeping or sagging. By playing with the dimensions with a sense of whimsical visual humor, Venske and Spänle open up plenty of room for associations. As helpful familiar spirits and fantastical companions for the children, their Smörfs are always at hand.