Hans Jonas Park
A redesign of Hans Jonas Park will give new visibility to very different contemporary artworks. 2022 will see Lesewald (Reading Forest) by Ferdinand Kriwet (1980/81), part of Mönchengladbach’s historically significant art in public space program (and a piece prominently placed in the line of sight to Haus Erholung), restored by Museum Abteiberg in close coordination with the artist’s estate.
All other pieces, including Hans Burgeff’s monument to Hans Jonas at the entrance to the park (1997); Brigitte Zarm’s Zeichen-Feder (Symbol Feathers) ensemble by the stairs to the community college (2004); and once-temporary pieces Museum Abteiberg brought to Jonas Park as part of its 2014 project “An Innocent Dream of a Park” – projects that, due to their resonance and support from the Mönchengladbach public, stayed longer than expected – will also be refurbished, secured, and in some cases repositioned in consultation with the artists. These include Tanja Goethe’s plant bed, Ulrike Möschel’s Versunkene Wippe (Sunken Seesaw), Christian Odzuck’s large-scale sculpture Geozentrik (Geocentric), and Alex Morrison’s Traumstraße (Dream Street) lanterns between Jonas Park and the sculpture garden.
RUTH BUCHANAN
A GARDEN WITH BRIDGES (SPINE, STOMACH, THROAT, EAR)
New Zealander artist Ruth Buchanan’s plans for a joint garden in Hans Jonas Park shared by the Mönchengladbach Arbeitslosenzentrum job center and the Stiftisches Humanistischen Gymnasium, a secondary school, are finished and set to be implemented in 2022. Broadly wellreceived with support from a number of public and private, supra-regional, international and local sponsors, Buchanan’s A Garden with Bridges (Spine, Stomach, Throat, Ear) is the first major citizen-commissioned art project to be realized in Mönchengladbach.
The idea was initiated by the German section of New Patrons. Started in France in the early
1990s, New Patrons is committed to supporting innovative artistic projects commissioned by citizens. Museum Abteiberg has been a New Patrons anchor point in the Rhineland since 2018. Kathrin Jentjens, a mediator active in Mönchengladbach, has been cooperating with the job center and Stiftisches Humanistischen Gymnasium. Jentjens is currently developing a second project with artist Kerstin Brätsch and citizens in Wickrath. Final dates for both projects to be announced; plans and press interviews available now. […]