Bluebird 27

Stefan Rohrer’s striking sculptures are made out of old cars, motorbikes or scooters, which he dismantles and transforms into autonomous objects. They seem to embody a compressed sequence of movement, materialised as if in a time lapse, whose story they tell. Rohrer, who was previously represented in “Blickachsen 8”, now presents two new works in Bad Homburg. In the Kurpark a grass-green Mini skids to a halt, displaying its innards to the outside world – most noticeably its bright red front seat, followed by its speedometer, steering wheel and wheels – transformed as if in the blink of an eye into a blooming red-flowered plant, whose botanical name (as Rohrer humorously implies) happens to be “Miniatus Floridus”. A chain of flower power / anti-violence associations links the green Mini with the blue field canon by Joep van Lieshout, warning of war, displayed in the same spot two years ago. Rohrer’s “Bluebird”, is made from a Simson Swallow motor scooter, entwined in elegant coils around a lamppost in the lower castle courtyard. Is it the tremendous speed just before a collision that is being represented here, or the wild growth of a long-forgotten vehicle, that has put down roots?