BORGMAN | LENK reframes berlin church ruins with ‘radiator’ sculpture

danish-german artist duo BORGMAN | LENK has completed ‘radiator’, a temporary steel sculpture in berlin. the monumental intervention is located in the ruins of a monastery church.

the massive steel sculpture weighs 11 tons

a massive ten-meter high pipeline is guided in a closed loop forming a spatial ensemble. the pipe links the sacred fragment of the monastery to this new space, which mimics the scale and spatial order of the neo-gothic church. the building plot seems interrupted by this absurd, non-functional object as the gigantic 11-ton radiator ‘lets its inner emptiness circulate around’. the sculpture juxtaposes opposites as the machine-like device is paired with historical fragments.

the radiator is installed inside of the ruins of a neo-gothic monastery church destroyed in the second world war

the artist duo has previously experimented with the juxtaposition of profane and sacred.  at church grimma — a 580-year-old structure near leipzig, germany — the artists suspended an enormous ‘stone’ from the building’s historic ceiling which was actually a cleverly-concealed paper mache sculpture. their projects demonstrate attempts at ‘repairing’ sacred spaces with bold sculptural statements. ‘radiator’ runs until the 31st of october 2017. 

the pipeline is ten meters high, creating an absurd statement

the scale of the sculpture reflects the enormous scale of the monastery

the tubes mimic massive pillars to create a new spatial order

the pipes create an interior space with no function

the parallel juxtaposition of the tubes and church introduces a new architectural language

the tubes seem to mimic the arches of the church and create a clear visual connection