A Bookcase for Borges
Municipal Library of Münster, 2001
Slate, 42cm x 46cm x 176cm

The bookcase shall stay empty.
A reference to the story
"The Library of Baal" by Jorge Luis Borges.

The bookcase consits of 4 open boxes made of slate with a softly polished surface. The name JORGE LUIS BORGES forms a spiral on the outside wall of the the cubes. Inside of the upper cube one reads the spanish word "YO" which in english means "I". "YO" is also the title of a poem by Borges (1899-1986). The "book" is the most important topic of Borges stories, of which the "Library of Baal" may be the most famous. The library in this story is a universal maze in which all books of mankind are stored and in which the human being is searching endlessly for selfjustification. Umberto Eco used this story for his novel "The Name of the Rose."

On the wall

Central to my sculptural work is a series of objects of slate, a material of strong tactile quality with a richness of visual qualities as well. The surface of slate may appear as a deap soft darkness or as a matt grey of the natural stone. Slate may be scratched, drilled, sawn, polished as well as combined with other materials. In my work I discovered the qualities of lead and colored epoxy in combination with slate as potential and potent artistic solution. These works are objects to be placed at the wall. They have been produced mainly between 1982 and 1999.

On the ground

Floor designed for the foyer of the office of the Company OMYA in Cologne in 1993. Marble, slate, steel, 200x200cm.

Literature as inspiration

The photos show a sequence of art works which form part of my artistic exploration over the years. Reading and rereading poetry is part of a liflong ocupation and also part of my artwork Borges, Thomas de Quincey, Hölderlin, San Juan de la Cruz, Cervantes, Lessing, Ernst Meister, the Psalms ... Texts of those poets are depicted on plates of slate, marbel, aluminum, led, brass.