Olaf Nicolai’s Labyrinth has been located in the GfZK garden since 1998. The social sculpture, one of the most iconic artworks in Leipzig, is particularly popular with children. The Labyrinth explores the area of tension between authenticity and artificiality and consists of industrially produced plastic brooms of the kind used by the Parisian city cleaning service. Through constant exposure to UV rays and the elements, its components are becoming brittle. Between 2023 and 2024, together with the artist, designers and material designers, we conducted research to develop a sustainable version of the artwork that remains faithful to the original artistic concept. The Rotterdam design studio The New Raw and the Kunstsstoffzentrum Leipzig took samples of the material and conducted a thorough analysis. In collaboration with the French manufacturer of the brooms, a solution was found. Especially for the Leipzig Labyrinth, a UV-resistant additive is blended with the polypropylene used to produce the brooms, increasing the artwork’s durability. The New Raw is repurposing the material from the version removed in autumn 2024 to create new seating for the GfZK. The project serves as a model, providing impulses for other museums confronted with similar problems within their own collections.
Program:
- Artist talk with Olaf Nicolai
- Presentation with The New Raw
- Lecture performance by Spector Books
- 7th anniversary of Bäckerei Backstein with band and DJs