Skulpturenpark Köln

Nina Canell’s works are characterized by an immediate fragility; plants, cable, glass, even powder are materials she uses in her sculptures. To these the artist has added electricity, which becomes visible in the form of lamps and neon tubes and, via the open structure of the way they are depicted, an element of danger is always allowed to resonate. With her giant installation Power (Powerless), Nina Canell—after her contribution to the exhibition “Made in Germany” in Hannover one year ago—now appears a second time in public space. Installed at the Sculpture Park in Cologne, a veteran power pole is able to bring a state of powerlessness to expression via its monumentality and isolation as a single freestanding pylon. Utility poles in the serial alignment of many masts are an image that defines an industrial landscape. Our society’s network of maintenance is herein articulated. But when suddenly isolated, the object becomes a metaphor for an antithesis to energy and power. In the context of the park, this aspect is just as suddenly given a new meaning: the sculpture becomes the epitome of the un- or dis-connected. Isolated from the group system, the object is an expression of a place that is no longer in the loop, appears in isolation and so becomes an image of another world, here specifically targeted.