Feuer & Flamme

In the artistic foundry in St. Gallen, works of art from internationally renowned artists such as Peter Fischli, Paul McCarthy, and Hans Josephsohn are being moulded. Can all ideas from the artists’ drafts be realized? And how do their ideas take shape? The founder, Felix Lehner, is considered a living encyclopedia thanks to his many years of experience. With his expertise he is able to produce works which initially might seem impossible. Despite all his knowledge, there is a degree of uncertainty: until it is done one cannot be sure of the outcome. To cope with the increase of orders for works of art of exceptionally large size, the foundry decides to collaborate with a workshop in China. It is through this combined effort that a model of a lump created in 15 seconds by the artist Urs Fischer later became a sculpture with a height of 14 metres. Through interviews with the workers of the foundry and the observation of their daily work, a complex process is being documented that brings us from a 3D model to the creation of the casting moulds, and to the transfer and assembly of the sculptures in their places of exhibition.
(Manuela Ruggeri)