„Hochsitzcafé“ vereint Nachhaltigkeit und Ästhetik

As part of the "Hochsitzcafé auf der Katzenwedelwiese" project, students from the Faculty of Architecture at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have designed and built an artistically designed group of high seats under the direction of artists Indra Schelble and Olaf Quantius. The installation consisting of three high seats on the orchard meadow of the ZKM in Beiertheim-Bulach will be opened on April 21 and can be used on site until fall 2024. In contrast to high seats used in forestry, the high seats on the Katzenwedelwiese are grouped close together and are therefore not so much observation posts as a sociable seating group that can serve as a platform for communication and a change of perspective.

The idea for the installation is based on the research work of Indra Schelble and Olaf Quantius. Together, they are exploring the question of whether and in what way visual-artistic approaches and sustainable forms of living and cultivation can generate synergy effects. They call their concept "poetic food forest". The "poetic food forest" is based on the hypothesis that the combination of an agriculturally usable forest garden with artistic interventions can create cultural and ecological added value.

Based on this concept, the students of the KIT Faculty of Architecture developed their raised hide designs, taking into account suggestions for use from the residents of the Katzenwedelwiese. From these, the design by student Jana Hewel was selected for realization in a democratic vote.
The realization was carried out in close cooperation with the chairs of Fine Arts, Construction and Design as well as Structural Design at KIT. Since the use of primary raw materials was to be avoided as far as possible, recycled waste wood was used for the construction, some of which was donated by residents of the meadow.

The high seat café will be located on the Bulach orchard meadow, St.Florian-Straße 14, 76135 Karlsruhe, from spring to fall 2024. It will then move to the former Westwall site in Rheinstetten. Indra Schelble and Olaf Quantius have reached an agreement with the town of Rheinstetten to use and design the site for the purposes of artistic research.

Opening:
Sunday, 21.04.2024 at 11:00 am

Location:
Katzenwedelwiese in Beiertheim-Bulach
St. Florian Straße 14 (at the turning hammer)
76135 Karlsruhe
https://zkm.de/standort/zkm-streuobstwiese

Photos: Christoph Engel, KIT

The artists
Indra Schelble was born in Heidelberg in 1977. She completed her studies in free painting/graphics at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe in 2003 with a diploma and as a master student. She then studied media art at the HfG Karlsruhe and completed a bachelor's degree in cultural studies at the Fernuniversität in Hagen from 2017 to 2023. Since her art studies, she has worked as a visual artist, as a freelance art mediator, mainly at the ZKM, and is active in teaching: currently as an academic assistant at the Chair of Fine Arts at the KIT Faculty of Architecture and as a lecturer at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe. In addition to her exhibition activities in Germany and abroad, she has received numerous scholarships.

Olaf Quantius was born in Bonn-Bad Godesberg in 1971. From 1993 to 1999 he studied painting at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe, from 1998 as a master student. In addition to his participation in national and international exhibitions, including at the Saarlandmuseum, the Glucksmann Gallery, the Wilhelm Hack Museum and the MARTa, he was a visiting professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg in 2016/17 and a substitute professor at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe in 2023.
With a research focus on the "Aesthetics of Sustainability", Indra Schelble and Olaf Quantius are investigating how artistic skills and approaches can be incorporated into contributions to ecological and social sustainability in their doctorate at the University of Art and Design Linz, which begins in 2023.
Both currently live and work mainly in Rheinstetten and Karlsruhe.

Other project participants

• Prof. Andrea Klinge, Chair of Construction and Design at KIT
• Manuel Michalski, academic assistant, Chair of Construction and Design at KIT
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Riccardo La Magna, Chair of Structural Engineering and Design at KIT
• Anita Knipper, wood workshop of the KIT Faculty of Architecture
• The students:
  Razan Alaa Eddin, Jana Hewel, Olivia Kirchner, Kevin Lang, Philipp Luem, Linda Reister, Elena Sittner, Moritz Tanner, Lucia Trojan

Cooperation partners

• Hanna Jurisch, curator (ZKM)
• Rüdiger Waurig for the Bulach/Beiertheim Citizens' Association

The project is supported by the ZKM | Center for Art and Media.

All photos: Christoph Engel, KIT