Simon Wachsmuth :
District Office of Amstetten

A plant entwined around an elevator shaft in a spiral forcing its way up a winding staircase, through spacious rooms and along architecture is to be understood as a poetic metaphor for the relationship between art and nature. With regard to the construction and consequently also to the constructional history of the room, the steel plant claims to follow a higher order which in this case is represented in the form of the law of growth and extension. Just as the architecture of the building - the new building housing the District Office of Amstetten - the plant also has an origin, a purpose and a function. The function is to reminding one, reminding of the rural environment as the remains of nature. And just as vine needs a support the iron tendril needs the frame of the staircase. Those who like to walk and climb the stairs are accompanied all along their way by the stem, branches, twigs and leaves. Superficially the installation alludes to the understanding and representation of nature. At the same time, however, it also develops a place-specific presence bringing different literary, historical and regional backgrounds into a new context where the visitor, the architecture and the place itself may meet. Returning to the traditional employment of plant ornaments in architecture, the draft also includes ready-made wrought-iron leaves which are usually used by artist craftsmen.
(Simon Wachsmuth)