The Institute for Art in Public Space Styria asked the organisation Die Kinderfreunde to engage in an example of a changed concept of monuments, adapted to the present. In keeping with the occasion – 100 years of Kinderfreunde – a portrait of the founder Anton Afritsch was not made, as might have been expected, but a repertoire of signs for the past, present and future was developed.
With his usual sensitivity, Fedo Ertl has succeeded in bringing nature and art into an exciting dialogue without one space interfering with or even destroying the other. The commemoration is not frozen in time: it is largely attuned to the structures of the place. The cultural landscape already has circular forms in numerous "on-site" interventions, which were taken up in the artistic programme and transferred into a new grammar.
Following the concept, the memorial consists of a total of six parts in the form of horizontal sculptures and a vertical, newly planted blood maple tree.
Locations: Volksgarten and Schloßberg, 8010 Graz
