Franz Erhard Walther

Wortfeld, 2005

Walther’s monumental wall piece Wortfeld (Word Field) was commissioned for the entrance area of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. The selected terms are listed on the wall from left to right: space, storage, sculpture, production, base, pedestal, body, time, extension, setting, location, proportion, column, dimension, form, boundary, frame. The terms are not descriptive, but have fields of meaning that address art, cultural, and scientific-technical areas. However, the focus is on the pictorial-plastic qualities. This is also expressed in the arrangement on the wall. A rhythm unfolds here that refers to the architecture, including in the plasticity of the parts. At the same time, the sequence of words creates further meanings. The terms are arranged in such a way that no linear reading is required, but rather the eye makes the most diverse connections within the word field as it wanders through it. Seeing and reading as action. Wall and space become one place.