Duet
They shine in stark contrast to the azure sky. The almost artificial-looking grass-green shade of the plants on the traffic circle further enhances the effect. The size of the ruby-red house sculptures by Timm Ulrichs surprises and inspires many who look at the sculpture entitled "Im Duett" (Duet), with its seemingly closely entwined houses dancing together on the traffic circle on Sandstrasse.
Meaning is in the eye of the beholder
According to artist Timm Ulrichs, the pictogram of a "simple children’s house" was one of his first designs of this kind in the 1990s, a homage to his abandoned architectural degree. Ulrichs, who likes to inject humor and irony into his art and certainly knows how to polarize viewers, also understands "Duet” as a sexual allusion: "It’s two houses that are intimate with each other," Ulrichs said. They are closely intertwined and, after all, they are also standing on a traffic circle: the German word for traffic circle is "Kreisverkehr", the German word for sexual intercourse is "Geschlechtsverkehr."
"Every side gives you an interesting new view," Ulrichs points out, summing up the site with the words: "It is precisely this environment of home ownership ideologues that makes an appropriate contrast."
A unique work of art for Monheim am Rhein
Ulrichs has been interested in art in public spaces for many years and has realized works in numerous cities such as Antwerp, Essen, Magdeburg and Munich. With "Duet," he has created a unique work of art for the city of Monheim am Rhein, which plays with the familiar in a humorous way.
The solid steel structure was manufactured in Hanover, its individual parts were welded together on site. The houses – typical gable roofed buildings, which actually blend in well with the surrounding area – stand on a corner and so appear quite dynamic, as if they were dancing closely while being entwined with each other.
