2023-11-14 18:19:00
In advance of the panel discussion “Are the villages taking the edge off the city?” organized by the Free Press. our editors wonder how effective the Purple Path concept actually is.
PRO: Yes, the concept binds the region and the city together – finally using the means of art, which is otherwise so popular, says Katharina Leuoth.
Do you know the Superlambanana? I didn’t know it. Until my vacation this year. No matter whether I was walking through the hotel foyer in Liverpool, sitting on the Beat les Touri bus or on the way to Albert Dock – I always passed strange figures. They were always the same, not unlike a sheep, just painted differently. At first I only noticed her in the corner of my eye. But at some point I took a closer look. And asked at the hotel reception. It was the Superlambanana. Aha.
Or rather, they were replicas of the Superlambanana. Such replicas were created, for example, on the occasion of the Capital of Culture year – Liverpool held the title in 2008. The original Superlambanana had been designed ten years earlier by Japanese artist Taro Chiezo. The Superlambanana is a cross between lamb and banana – it is intended to make an ironic reference to the dangers of genetic engineering and goods in the port of Liverpool. And in this city, too, there was initially grumbling about the sense or nonsense of the work – today the banana lamb can be seen as a lovingly accepted city representative with a penchant for reproduction.
And what can I say: From then on I was happy about every specimen I discovered and almost got my heels hurt. The Banana Lamb isn’t a global celebrity, but it kept me on my toes as a tourist: I got unexpected extra access to the city, discovered corners I wouldn’t have otherwise seen while hunting for Superlambanana, and now speak even more enthusiastically about Liverpool than I would have done anyway. The Purple Path also has what it takes to influence tourists in such a positive way.
This sculpture, art and hiking trail, which is currently being developed, will be the connection between the cultural capital of Chemnitz and its region with 38 municipalities. Because Chemnitz was chosen for the title together with this region – that has to be visible, and the Purple Path makes it visible. Sculptures will be set up in the communities – eight are already in place – and events will take place. With the help of these sculptures and events, stories about the history, legends and customs of the places will be processed and made available to visitors via various information channels, such as QR codes. Art becomes the means of transport to bring the history(s) of our region closer to visitors.
Contemporary art is finally making a big appearance in public spaces! Art – which often has a difficult time: it can go away/what’s the point/it costs too much! Always this complaining! Although art as a means of human expression helps us to become free in our heads and hearts: it is sugar for the imagination, stimulus for thoughts, trigger for emotions. Art also means: having fun! I like to go on a kind of scavenger hunt like the search for the banana lamb, where you discover things along the way that you hadn’t even thought about. And if, like the Purple Path, this is possible with some kind of hiking trail in times when hiking is booming, all the better! This is how hiking freaks come to art and art freaks come to hiking.
It is obvious that not everyone will like every work of art: art also invites discussion. You then have to move away from German perfectionism: Not everything will go perfectly on the Purple Path, but neither will it in other projects elsewhere. What is important is the overall impression: that a region confidently invites you to explore it through art.
By the way: In the Tate Liverpool – one of four Tate galleries in Great Britain – I saw a sculpture by Tony Cragg. Well, I thought, we also have a Cragg: on the Purple Path in Schlema.
CONS: Rather no – because as a concept it is not fascinating in itself. This is due to a substance that is unfortunately too thin to begin with, says Tim Hofmann.
Do you know the fairy tale about the “axe pulp”? Because a farmer’s wife doesn’t want to entertain a soldier and doesn’t tell him about her full larder, he suggests that she cook porridge using an ax without a handle. To do this, he simply places the tool in a pot of hot water and tastes it with great appetite. The old woman asks if it tastes good. Very tasty, says the soldier, but it would be even better with a little salt! Then the farmer’s wife, becoming curious, brings out salt. The soldier continues to cook with great fuss, constantly feeding the mistress of the house new ingredients: pearl barley, vegetables, meat… until the two of them end up with a delicious meal on the table.
The Purple Path is such an axe. In order not to do any injustice to the art that can already be seen there, one has to say: It is a stylish example, solidly crafted and worth seeing. But whether this can really become a mainstay of Chemnitz’s Capital of Culture year remains to be seen.
Positive fact: The fact that the sculpture park was started so early and in a well-structured way had a great starting effect on the surrounding area and captured a lot of the impulse energy of those who wanted to get started straight away: some of them became, to stay with the metaphor, “pantry rooms ” open. This has broken down hurdles and led to significant progress being made this year, especially thanks to some big artist names.
Nevertheless, the question must be asked whether this approach will also produce something supra-regionally magnetic. First catch: The “Path”, although drawn on the surrounding map according to the simple, proven idea of a circular hiking trail, is not one: In practice, the distances between the works are too great for their viewing value, even by car. Up until now, this has often been explained away by saying that the path can be divided into stages, that it has more of the symbolic meaning of a ribbon and that it also needs to be enlivened by many, many events. Well, that would be meat and pearl barley, plausible and promising. But why add a tourist concept that is familiar from nature trails, wine routes, “note trails” or castle associations?
That’s the second catch: The Purple Path is supposed to be more than just art scattered across the region? Unfortunately, that’s exactly how it works! In terms of content and quality: there is something great there
such as Tony Cragg’s alien meltdown “Stack” in Bad Schlema, which violently draws the viewer into worlds of association, or the famous group of trees “Include me out” by Friedrich Kunath in Thalheim. Definitely worth the individual visit! In addition, there are also rather listless decorative works such as Carl Emanuel Wolff’s “Wild Boars” at Sauberg Ehrenfriedersdorf or Iskender Yediler’s factory model fragment “Untitled” in Lichtenstein, which only seem more subtle than a ship model in Hamburg as a reference to the port tradition , if an interpretation is added.
However, this quickly spirals into everything and nothing: if the use of metal alone indicates mining tradition and every luminous body is supposed to symbolize the climber’s longing for light, the substance is thin. Unfortunately, the entire “Purple Path” works through such additional explanations instead of working and fascinating as an idea in itself. So said ax. What remains are the region’s larders – and the hope of a good meal without a recipe so that the finger-pointing doesn’t start afterwards. Because how does the band Großstadtgehisper sing so beautifully? “If it’s working then it’s always everyone else, if/it’s not working it’s always everyone else!”
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No thanks. Continue in this view.
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