Bird Woman - Genius Loci
Date:
2016
Ref:
7130.01
Materials:
Aluminium on concrete plinth
Dimensions:
232 x 150 x 180h cm (without plinth)
Exhibition history:
2016 Emscherkunst Triennale, Germany
Courtesy:
Lucy + Jorge Orta
In the series Genius Loci, Lucy + Jorge Orta were invited to conceive three allegorical sculptures in dialogue with the post-industrial landscape of the Ruhr region, commissioned for the third edition of the Emscherkunst Triennial (2026), a public sculpture trail extending over 50 kilometres along the Emscher Valley.
Two of the three sculptures are now permanently installed in Dortmund-Hörde, on the banks of Phoenix Lake, an artificial basin created on the former site of the Phoenix steelworks. Bird Woman marks the site of a former viaduct linking the eastern and western parts of Phoenix, as if emerging from the embers of coal and steel, while Totem with Magpie evokes a new generation growing up amid this industrial metamorphosis.
The third figure The Observer, like an oracle, bears witness to the transformation of a landscape long scarred by the coal and steel industries. Initially installed at Kokerei Hansa, a former coking plant in Dortmund-Huckarde, the sculpture observes nature gradually reclaiming the industrial ruins.