Foundation — ResonantSculptures

Resonant Sculptures

(Working title)

A participatory art project for an auditory-tactile sculpture trail in public-space.

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2. Foundation

When Gina Bolle installed an artwork in the public space in Marburg, she was struck by the way in which visually impaired pedestrians were inadvertently obstructed and thus excluded from experiencing the piece. It became apparent to Bolle that there were almost no artworks in the public in Marburg that were produced by or for blind or visually impaired people. This prompted a critical reflection; who is public art for?

Michael Warner’s notions of publics and counter-publics are as self-organised “poetic world making,”[3] however, historic marginalisations of counter-publics diminish “the potential for world making.”[4] Public spaces are not neutral and shaped by norms that often exclude non-normative bodies. ResonantSculptures embraces the idea of the counter-public, disrupting able-bodied assumptions to create richer, more inclusive experiences of being in public space. Access is not a constraint but a creative prompt, grounded in the physical, sensory, and social realities of urban life.

Marburg, an unofficially called “Blindenhauptstadt”, is an adept initial home for this project, also because it is a leader in accessible urban planning with pioneering tactile paving and auditory signals well before the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [5]. However, this is yet to translate into creative expression across the city. ResonantSculptures build on this legacy by introducing an artistic dimension that reimagines public infrastructure as a space for sensory and social connection. With support from Marburg’s Department of Culture, individual persons like Frau Ulrike Schönhagen, the Museumsfreunde e.V. and the Musikschule e.V., the project began to take shape, harnessing a collective approach.

Responsible for the website:

Gina Bolle – Freelance artist and photographer, Berlin, Germany
Emma Fearon – Art Curator and PhD candidate at the University of Exeter, Exeter, UK