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Badende in München
projects & works
Badende

texts
`Drowned bathers`
Marianne Maasland
Birgit Sonna

related link
Overtures am Wasser

 
Badende in München  (ENG / NL)
fourteen bathers from Munich’s painting collections only get visible when wetted with water
2005, banks of the Isar, Munich, DE

Wapke Feenstra painted the fourteen Munich bathers in grey on tiles of grey concrete. When water was sprinkled on the dry tile the paint remained light, but the concrete darkened and allowed the bathers to appear. The image gradually emerged, and then receded as the tile dried. The miracle vanished.

With this group of works, in which bathers from the Pinakotheken and the Lenbachhaus appeared on the banks of river Isar, Feenstra introduced a series of associations. The works allowed the reality around us, the history and the drying water on the tile to interact in unexpected ways and to create many possible meanings. In Munich we still can see the ‘Frei Körper Kultur’ near the river in the middle of the city centre and along it other recreational activities like biking, swimming, barbecuing and drinking. Washing the bathers and looking at the drying and dripping adds a new story to the Isar and the collections of images of bathers, a tale imbedded in its surroundings.

‘Badende’ was part of “Overtures am Wasser”, curated by Inge Lindemann and Verena Nolte, Artcircolo München 2005. The bathers were removed at the end of October 2005.

NL
Langs de Isar in München lagen veertien betonnen tegels, waarop pas een voorstelling zichtbaar werd als passanten de tegels nat maakten. Dan verschenen badende vrouwen, geïnspireerd door schilderijen afkomstig uit de collecties van deze stad. De afbeeldingen op de tegels verwijzen naar de schilderkunst en naar culturele (recreatieve) tradities in en rondom München.

‘Badende’ is gemaakt als onderdeel van “Overtures am Wasser” (curatoren Inge Lindemann en Verena Nolte, Artcircolo München 2005). Dit werk was tot eind oktober 2005 te zien.