Bridge Balance (Ger. Brückenbalance) (destroyed) and Balance 2

Artworks

Description

Pendulum-like installation: a five-meter-high mast (part of the bridge balance) as a pole with a meter-long, freely movable tube attached to the top.

Historical background

The initial bridge scale sculpture that were once installed by Eberhard Krüger in 2000 was an imposing structure built with steel masts reaching twelve meters on both sides of the Neisse River, connected by a rope. An arched balance bar swayed on the rope, resisting the wind, and remaining in balance. For the artist, the balance of the bridge symbolized "an always sensitive relationship on the border in which both nations must be able to find a conciliatory dialogue". The artwork was destroyed during construction works on the German side on April 19, 2007. The steel support was damaged, as a result of which the entire work could no longer function in its original form, being dismantled and stored. After many unsuccessful attempts to rebuild the bridge scale, another version of it, the Balance 2, was installed ten years later in the corner of Wassergasse.

According to the artist, the work of art Balance 2 is to symbolize the "Pendulum for Guben", which is to rotate in the direction of the wind and sway calmly in the wind.

Information about the artists

Eberhard Krüger

Born 1950 in Komptendorf (Germany)
1979: the beginning of painting; Teachers: G.Knabe, U.Richter, H.Scheuerecker and R. Sittner
1986-1989: artistic director of "Nude Drawing" in the municipal office in Cottbus
1994: artistic installations and actions on the Polish-German border in Guben-Gubin
1997: Behringen Sculpture Symposium / Thuringia Sculpture Symposium "Tree Cart" Gorzów (Poland)
2000: installation of stainless-steel bridge scales between the border towns of Guben / Gubin.

Artwork review

An example of political art symbolizing "an always sensitive relationship on the border in which both nations must be able to find a conciliatory dialogue".