The site-specific installation, created for HangarBicocca in 2004 and curated by Lia Rumma, is one of the most important works by the German artist Anselm Kiefer.
Expressly for this space, Kiefer has designed seven monumental towers that symbolize the mystical experience of the ascent through the seven levels of spirituality. The towers, which consist of a “stratification” of structural elements made of reinforced concrete and lead, adopt the “universal section” of the container for the shipping of goods as a modular “measure”, a recurrent feature in the artist’s most recent output and symbol of the globalization of the urban landscape. Kiefer has experimented with the use of this “material of our time” to create his own aesthetic utopia at his workshop in Barjac, France, where he has been living since 1993.
The towers (which have been given the titles Falling Stars, Deposit of Stars/Sternenlager, Die Sefiroth, Tzim-Tzum, Shevirat Ha-Kelim, Tiqqun, and The Seven Heavenly Palaces) represent the metaphysical principles corresponding to the various levels of human participation in the divine. They are also associated with the emotional situations that characterize the daily life of every individual and that can lend its order and meaning.
Anselm Kiefer
The Seven Heavenly Palaces
- Artista
- Anselm Kiefer
- Data
- 24 settembre 2004 – 31 dicembre 2023
- Location
- Pirelli Hangar Bicocca
Photo Gallery
L'artista
Anselm Kiefer was born in 1945 in Donaueschingen, Germany; he lives and works in Paris. Solo exhibition has been dedicated to Anselm Kiefer since the beginning of his carrier by prestigious museums among which: Kunsthalle, Bern (1978); Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1979); Groniger Museum, Gronigen (1980); Museum Folkwang, Essen (1981);