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Tomas Hoke :
Der Wagen

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Thomas Hoke, Der Wagen, Baden, 1995
© Matthäus Prandstätter
Thomas Hoke, Der Wagen, Baden, 1995
© Matthäus Prandstätter
Thomas Hoke, Der Wagen, Baden, 1995
© Matthäus Prandstätter
Baden, 1995
Gutenbrunner Park, Rollettgasse, 2500 Baden

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The 'Wagen', as the object of chrome-plated steel is called, is based on the shape of a plough. As an agricultural relic removed from its usual setting it stands on a meadow in a park, where it alludes to the human impulse to cultivate the natural surroundings.

The "Wagen" is a model, a construction whose function is of figurative nature. It is an agricultural relic, something elevated and thus also lifted to the base of the museum. (There was once a plow, and this was the wedge that split the earth. The wheel was already an exaggeration!) Since the park is not a field but rather terrain for contemplation or secret erotic adventures, and thus a strategic site, there is no plowing here. One only does "as if". As if it were nature taking place here, as if a plow were carving a furrow straight through the meadow, in which anything could be buried, anything that could grow in the way of desires and dreams. The only thing we can counter nature with is our plow. And since it does not yield to our will, we build nature all around. The furrow, the joint, the split – the the trace we find so beautiful. Apparatus for enlargement, movement linear, inertia mass captured in wheels, drawing, pushing, sweating. Tools. Utmost precision. Of no use, yet always present. Made public, placed there, screwed on. Some rain protection – at least, Romulus and Remus already mistook the plow for a she-wolf that happened to appear on the scene, only because it was raining. Or was it perhaps the wild sow, the mother of all plows of this world?
(Tomas Hoke)

Images (4)

Thomas Hoke, Der Wagen, Baden, 1995
© Matthäus Prandstätter
Thomas Hoke, Der Wagen, Baden, 1995
© Matthäus Prandstätter
Thomas Hoke, Der Wagen, Baden, 1995
© Matthäus Prandstätter