Saturn frisst seine Kinder.

Fresh concrete doesn’t simply adapt to the shape of a given formwork. What actually happens is a transfer of information between the liquid stone and the mould – a mutual entanglement and a process of simultaneously becoming matter and mould. For Saturn frisst seine Kinder. (Saturn devours his children.) Nikolaus Eckhard used his own body as a mould to build an architectural structure – a column. His assistants poured the liquid stone into the space between torso, arms and legs. Then he held still to observe the curing of the material— the entanglement of stone and flesh, the sensations of irritated nerves, the difficulties of breathing, and the warm summer nights. A cast was poured every second day until the set of 10 were complete. Each cast added 30 cm to the body of the sculpture, resulting in a column 3 meters high. Saturn frisst seine Kinder. consists not only of the 700 kg concrete sculpture but also of a 160 g book offering a detailed description of the sculpture’s making and the bodily feelings associated with it as well as of essays on the history and culture of concrete and columns. Concrete is not only a tremendously complex substance but also humans’ second most extensively used material right after water. Each year 27 billion tonnes are being poured. As such it has tremendous effects on the globe. Still the perception of concrete tends to be banalising it. In this artistic-research Nikolaus Eckhard investigates concrete by bodily approaching it: By shaping it and being shaped by it – as well as by reflecting the whole process. Saturn devours his children. He does so until Ops, his wife, hands him a stone instead of Jupiter. Saturn devours the stone without feeling any difference. Later he is poisoned by the adult Jupiter. Reacting to the poison Saturn vomits, (re)birthing 5 gods and the stone as well. pic 2-11 Valentin Farkasch | pic 1 Oliver Modosch