Work on display on the façade of the City Hall of Esch-sur-Alzette
Oase Nr. 7 is the result of pioneering architectural and artistic reflections on the consequences of pollution and climate change, as well as on the desire to escape urban spaces (for example by heading to an oasis). The aerial structure, which is shaped like a bubble, is the symbol of a utopia that could well become reality.
The current installation was created under the supervision of Günter Zamp Kelp, a founding member of the Haus-RuckerCo architects’ collective and creator of the original Oase Nr. 7, the first edition of which was made and installed at the contemporary art exhibition documenta 5 in 1972. Half a century has passed since the work was first installed on the façade of the Museum Fridericianum (one of Europe’s first public museums, founded in 1779). Since the opening of the 100-day exhibition, the work, which straddles the boundary between an architectural utopia and a contemporary art installation, became a symbol, a powerful image amplified by the contrast between the 18thcentury façade and the floating plastic bubble (measuring seven metres in diameter) which dominated the square in front of the old museum. The installation at Esch-sur-Alzette makes reference to the original installation.
Oase Nr. 7 is part of Dis-placed, a thematic exhibition by the Konschthal Esch, divided into two parts taking place between July 2024 and January 2025. The exhibition Dis-placed brings together works by a dozen artists on the notion of the “losing one’s home”.
Haus-Rucker-Co (1967–1992) was a collective of architects and artists founded by architects Laurids Ortner and Günter Zamp Kelp and painter Klaus Pinter. Manfred Ortner joined the group in 1971. Oase Nr. 7 is typical of the “mind-expanding programme” that the group’s members began to conceive and realize with their utopian projects striving for a new perception of urban architecture.
As part of the Biennale 2024 - Architectures, by Esch Capitale Culturelle.
Video: SKIN.