Arts on the building: the red tubes in the library (Feed)

We are asked what the clearly visible red tubes hanging from the ceiling in the library are all about. Our spontaneous survey shows: Even 75 percent of our followers have no idea.

If you visit the university library regularly, you might not even notice them: the red tubes hanging from the ceiling. But what is it all about? Because the question reached us today - thank you very much - we would like to shed some light on it. The pipes are the work of the artist Dietrich Förster, who since 1990 has devoted himself mainly to Arts in public spaces with sculptures and installations. He gave his room installation in the Erfurt University Library the title ORDNUNG UND FREIHEIT. In 1999, an open, anonymous artists' competition was held for the "Arts on the Building" of the new library building, in which Dietrich Förster's design took first place out of 53 participants. The room installation was completed for the opening in 2000. The artist says of his work:

"In the arrangement of the tubes, the grid undergoes a further development up to its dissolution. The sculpture can be read as a metaphor for progress: Scientific progress becomes possible when it is possible to leave the foundation of lawful order in order to move in a kind of creative flight of fancy into as yet unknown terrain, without losing the reference to what has gone before."

The University Library has more information on the artwork "Order and Freedom" by Dietrich Förster on its new Arts on Building page.

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