Olaf Holzapfel: Zwei in ein ander Gewobene

The conceptual artist Olaf Holzapfel, born in Dresden in 1967, places a sculptural-constructive work in the open landscape of the Dittersdorfer Höhe as a reminiscence of a childhood observation. Outer elements are evenly arranged around an inner structure of soaring square beams like a protective mesh. The two interlocking constructions are reminiscent of the wooden or steel towers that were erected in Saxony's turbulent landscape precisely above fixed points and served as surveying stations in the network of the Royal Saxon Triangulation [sic!] in the 18th century for mapping the kingdom. These stations, visible from afar, were constructed in such a way that the areas for people and for technical instruments functioned separately, as the measurement results were to be recorded as undisturbed as possible by heat, vibrations or the weight of human bodies. 

As symbols of the ambivalent relationship between technology and nature, Holzapfel's work conveys the dogma of scientific objectivity to detach things from nature to such an extent that they become part of a system of signs devised by man. Paul Alsberg, the secret mastermind of philosophical anthropology, described this principle as the elimination of the body, as a prerequisite for the intelligent use of technology in an environment perceived as hostile. With this mechanism of alienation, nature has now been transformed into semi-finished products (Vilém Flusser), into a thoroughly synthetic, man-made reality.

The triangulation towers, which over the decades have also been used for other purposes such as transmitters or antennas, have completely disappeared from today's landscape in Saxony. Holzapfel, for whom triangulation was already the theme of his contribution to documenta 14, erected his approx. 14-metre-high wooden tower on the Dittersdorfer Höhe in the immediate vicinity of a Royal Saxon Triangulation Column erected in 1869. With his work, he not only creates a reminder of the technical revolution of earlier generations, he also makes us aware that we are looking from there into a cultural landscape that has been surveyed and shaped by humans.