Beverage-crate sculpture kicks off 2000 season at Rice Art Gallery

Beverage-crate sculpture kicks off 2000 season at Rice Art Gallery

Structures built of beverage crates will
transform the look of the Rice University Art Gallery during
the first exhibit of the 2000-2001 season, scheduled to
open Sept. 21.

“Kastenhaus” is the first solo
exhibit by German artists Wolfgang Winter and Berthold Hörbelt,
who have received acclaim for their beverage-crate structures.
The exhibit will be constructed on the Gallery Plaza and
will serve as a locus for public gatherings and scheduled
events.

The exhibit’s opening reception is
scheduled for Sept. 21 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and the artists
will give a talk at 6 p.m. The exhibit will be on view through
Oct. 29.

Winter and Hörbelt met as art students
in Kassel, Germany, where they discovered that they both
sought to create art from everyday objects and to invest
their work with a functional value. The artists chose to
work with beverage cases because of the cases’ inherent
sculptural qualities and their value in everyday life. Traditionally,
for a small deposit, Germans carry their water bottles home
in crates, which they return later. The crates are reused,
and the cycle is repeated endlessly.

Winter and Hörbelt’s transformation
of the crates into large-scale art objects temporarily removes
them from this cycle, but they always are returned when
the artists’ projects are dismantled. Stacked to form
walls, the openings in the sides of the crates permit continual
passage of light and air. During the day, sunlight floods
through the crates, projecting patterns on the ground, while
at night the internally lighted structures glow like huge
lanterns.

The artists’ crate houses expand the
boundaries of sculpture and architecture. The beautiful,
aesthetically appealing forms can be experienced inside-out,
and they are sites of dynamic public interaction. The artists’
interest in the use of public space is an engaging aspect
of their work. During the 1997 “Sculpture Project Münster,”
Winter and Hörbelt’s structures served as information
booths; in 1999 they served as bus shelters in Havixbeck,
Germany, and as a movie theater in Berlin.

Winter notes, “Real places that bring
people together, like the large old squares with their central,
dominant sculptures, cannot grow forth as the products of
some romantic longing, but must instead respond to modern
needs and modes of perception.”

Located on the Rice campus, the art gallery
presents site-specific installations by nationally and internationally
recognized artists. To reach the gallery, enter the university
through Entrance 1 at the intersection of Main Street and
Sunset Boulevard. Turn left at the end of the entrance road
and proceed straight ahead into visitor parking. The gallery
is located on the ground floor of the building to the right,
Sewall Hall.

The Rice Art Gallery is open Tuesday through
Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday until 8 p.m. and Sunday
from noon to 5 p.m. The gallery is closed Mondays, university
holidays and during the summer months. Admission is free.