Bridges and Walls Defy Gravity in Cornelia Konrads’ Atmospheric Site-Specific Installations

Art

#Cornelia Konrads
#installation
#land art
#sculpture
#site-specific

Bridges and Walls Defy Gravity in Cornelia Konrads’ Atmospheric Site-Specific Installations

October 11, 2023

Kate Mothes

“bridge” (2018), lodgepole pine, weathered barn boards, and steel rope, 20 meters long and 4 meters high, for Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild, Lincoln, Montana. All images © Cornelia Konrads, shared with permission

A bridge in the middle of a Montana forest appears eternally suspended mid-collapse, and a wooden dock curls up out of the water in just a couple of artist Cornelia Konrads’ site-specific interventions (previously). Using found materials like driftwood in the towering “tourbillon” or tapping into the regional vernacular like the ceramic tiles and stone in “refuge,” the artist re-interprets existing spaces by embracing the tension between harmony and chaos in nature.

Konrads’ installations feature an interplay between permanence and weightlessness, as structures such as bridges, houses, and walls appear to defy gravity. In “La folie des folies (3 The Match),” for example, existing classical statues of Hippomedes and Atalanta appear to playfully lob marble pots across a lawn at one another. And in her most recent work, “fluchtweg / escape route,” a stone wall curls aside to open a footpath, transforming into an inviting gateway rather than a barrier.

The works often visually remark on a specific location, such as “refuge,” which incorporates “an ancient dry stone wall along an old link road between France and Spain, frequently used by refugees during the past centuries,” while “bridge” suspends local lodgepole pine and weathered barn boards over a forested ravine.

Explore more of Konrads’ land art and installations on her website.

Collaboration with Marco Dessardo, “pontoon” (2020), wood, plastic containers, iron, and aluminum, 900 x 120 x 150 centimeters. Site on the bank of the Canal de Bourgogne at the harbour of Migennes, for Tandems—Parcours artistique en plein air, Association Canal Satellite, Migennes, France

“tree house” (2022), bricks, cement, construction wood, wooden tiles, and steel cable, 4 x 4 x 6 meters, in Sologne, France

“refuge” (2019), stones, wood, and roof tiles, approxomately 5 x 2.5 x 1.5 meters, for Murets d’art, Mornans, Val de Drôme, France

“refuge”

“tourbillon” (2018/2021), driftwood, and metal, 600 x 400 x 400 cm, for Fondation Carmignac, Villa Carmignac, Île de Porquerolles, France.

“La folie des folies (3 The Match)” (2019), resin, div. paints and pigments, steel rope, two vases, 0.8 x 0.5 x 0.5 meters each, for the Grand Allée of Domaine de la Garenne-Lemot, Gétigné, France

“La folie des folies (3 The Match)”

“fluchtweg / escape route” (2023), local stones, mortar, wood, and metal, each side approximately 120 x 225 x 40 centimeters and Installation on a terrain of 550 x 100 centimeters. Site: small valley crossing the main hiking trail to Rittisberg, for Land-Art Rittisberg 2023, Ramsau am Dachstein, Austria

“tinkers” (2016), set design for a theatre play of ‘The Only Animal Theatre Society’ at Mt. Elphinstone Provincial Park, Roberts Creek, British Columbia

Detail of “bridge”

#Cornelia Konrads
#installation
#land art
#sculpture
#site-specific

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