Self-evident

In 1972, the American artist Richard Serra sought this bowl-shaped valley in the sculpture garden as a location for a new work. At the foot of the slope, he placed three huge steel plates. Positioned there, half inserted into the valley slope and half freestanding in the space, they are more like screens; their presence is so self-evident that they seem to have always been there.

Imaginary movement

The middle of the valley, precisely where the visitor is optimally confronted with the work, is empty. The plates are not placed concentric to each other and, therefore, together create no centre point. The familiar, inward-facing character of the valley bowl has disappeared and in its place is now an imaginary movement, which draws the attention outwards, a ‘spin out’.

Different perception

The three plates create a different perception of the space. In order to grasp the altered landscape situation, the observer must walk around the work and view it from different angles. This combination of a given space, the intervention therein and the confrontation of the observer with the new space is characteristic of Serra’s work.