Johannes Pfeifferlimes

/ THE WORK

limes, 2001
steel and marble

In Latin, the word limes indicates the border that existed between “barbarians” and Romans 2000 years ago. The contemporary border imagined by Pfeiffer for the Park, composed of 47 stainless steel rods surmounted by a white Carrara marble stone, is however very distant from the conception of a border that separates peoples and lands and brings with it the idea of prohibition, or even armed defence.
Limes is here, paradoxically, an open border in every sense: it simply distinguishes that part of the Sculpture Park cared for by man from the untouched nearby areas. The choice of materials similar to a minimalist aesthetic means that Limes relates to the surrounding forest in an organic way. Under a certain light, the steel rods seem to dematerialize, so that the white stones give the impression of floating, almost as if they were small puffs of clouds or smoke integrated into the greenery. The focal point of this installation is contained in the contrast between the closed shapes, the density and the colour of the marble, a natural material, opposed to the vertical, thin and artificial stainless steel. Limes is a rewarding work for these sculptural qualities, but also for the way in which it generates the contemplation of former borders, such as the Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China, whose original function has been replaced, transforming them today into tourist attractions. Limes suggests that there remain many kinds of boundaries that still need to be crossed.