Manfred Pernice

In 2007 Manfred Pernice covered the public stone benches alongside a green area at the corner of Engelenschanze with a concrete platform and steps leading up to it. On top of this he erected a glass-roofed steel pavilion brought from the Berlin suburb of Hohenschönhausen. Beneath the roof he created two independent artworks: one was a square pillar bearing inscriptions relating to Münster; the other was a work standing on a concrete plinth vaguely reminiscent of George Rickey’s Three Squares Gyratory¹(1973), which is located nearby at Engelenschanze.

Manfred Pernice was interested in the complexity of the site and its historical background. Certain elements of the installation gave hints as to the references named in the cryptically abbreviated title of the piece, which when fully written out were: Denkmal & Freizeitanlage – York, Engelen, Schmitz (Übergangswohnheim Lankenau)². In concrete terms, the artist was referring to the York Barracks, the Engelenschanze and the so-called Schmitz-Säule (Schmitz Column) in Cologne, all of which opened up a complex puzzle of references to places and events in and around Münster.

During his research in Münster Pernice got into conversation with residents of the York-Kaserne (York Barracks), a part of which in 2007 was turned into a hostel for male asylum-seekers. One of these men spoke of his wish for a covered spot in the garden during the summer, which then inspired Pernice to create a pavilion in public space.³ As the site for his project, the Engelenschanze, similar to the barracks, has had a varied history and was converted into a park after its destruction in the war. Also located here is Rickey’s kinetic sculpture, Münster’s first outdoor modernist sculpture whose purchase in 1975 sparked animated protest among the population – a controversy that was also an important impulse for the initial founding of Skulptur Projekte.

Pernice viewed “city” as a grown, multi-layered construct propelled by various interests. Accordingly, his contribution addressed a number of locally relevant issues: immigration, demographic change, the shaping of public opinion and contemporary notions of art. Reflecting upon different places in Münster, the artist fathomed urban change to create a site that gave his ideas architectural form.

Daniel Friedt

¹ George Rickey, Three Squares Gyratory, 1973, stainless steel, height: 350 cm, each square 115 x 115 x 11 cm, donated by the Westdeutsche Landesbank to city of Münster, installed since 1973 in the section of park at Engelenschanze, purchased in 1975.

² Translated into English: Monument & Leisure facility – York, Engelen, Schmitz (temporary residential home Lankenau)

³ Cf. Patrick Dehnbund, “Manfred Pernice”, in: Brigitte Franzen, Kasper König and Carina Plath (eds.), sculpture projects muenster 07, exhib. cat. LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster, Cologne, 2007, p. 188.