The Artwork

Photograph of a work of art that is set up outdoors in a public space. The artwork by the artist Alicja Kwade consists of three black steel rectangles of different heights, which are mounted inside each other at different angles. Between the steel beams are three golden clock faces with hands indicating different times. The steel construction stands in a shallow water basin. Footpaths, trees and other buildings can be seen in the background.
The Memorial Site Munich-Riem 1970 with the artwork by Alicja Kwade, © Photo: www.romanjob.de
Close-up photograph of a work of art set up outdoors in a public space. The artwork by the artist Alicja Kwade consists of three black steel rectangles of different heights, which are mounted inside each other at different angles. Between the steel beams are three golden clock faces with hands indicating different times. The sky and deciduous trees can be seen in the background.
The clock faces of the artwork refer to the temporal dimensions of the attack, © Photo: www.romanjob.de

The central component of the publicly accessible memorial site is the 8.3-metre-high metal sculpture by Alicja Kwade. The artist picks up on the explosive devices’ detonation times that were calculated at a later date. Gold-plated clock faces mirroring that on the former airport tower are enclosed by three steel frames. They are intended to provide a three-dimensional rendition of the temporal dimensions of the attack and its impact and to make these tangible. The work also references the gaps and fragments in people’s memories and the clarification process. The ensemble incorporates a bilingual information board.

Alicja Kwade is one of the most renowned contemporary artists internationally. Works by the artist who lives in Berlin can be found worldwide. Among other projects, she designed the roof garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York, participated in the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017 and took part in the Public Art Munich programme in 2020–23 with the work ‘Bavaria’. Alicja Kwade’s works often take scientific and philosophical discourses as their starting point and explore the question as to how we, as a society, perceive reality.

Close-up photograph of a work of art. The artwork by the artist Alicja Kwade consists of a black steel construction in which three gold-plated clock faces are mounted, the hands of which indicate different times. The photograph shows a close-up of the three clock faces appearing one behind the other.
Close-up view of the clock faces, © Photo: www.romanjob.de

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