Robert Schad, who hails from Ravensburg, has been regarded since the 1980s as one of the most significant and internationally successful metal sculptors in contemporary art. His preferred material is solid, blackened square steel. The multi-part sculpture ‘Singen’ was commissioned in 1995 by Georg Fischer to mark the company’s centenary as a ‘symbol of solidarity with the town of Singen and its citizens’ and was installed on the previously monotonous expanse of Heinrich-Weber-Platz. The ground-level water basin was added at a later date.
Without a plinth, the delicate steel rods rise from the ground, extending into the space via breaks and joints as dance-like, flowing lines, and creating a graceful, seemingly dematerialised dynamism. Schad strips the structural steel—weighing several tonnes—of all mass and heaviness, endowing it with a playful lightness and transforming it into a gestural and expressive medium. Instead of static volume, the line, as ‘spatial script’ (Schad), pierces its surroundings with power and organic fluidity. The outdoor sculpture was created in 1995 in response to an unresolved, architecturally challenging situation. The horizontally oriented ‘crossbeam’ responds directly to the right-angled perimeter development, follows the course of the building façades and visually opens up the sculpture towards the city centre. The symbolically abstracted, airy construction of the sculptural ensemble demands a dynamic perception from passers-by, invites them to walk through the square and elevates it to a special place that can be experienced physically and sensually.
The work is a gift from +GF+ to the city of Singen.
Text and editing: Kunstmuseum Singen
