In long-term installations, the Raussmüller Collection focussed on an incomparable group of architectural sculptures that start from visions of huge chamber and tunnel constructions and generate perplexing experiences for the viewer. As models of gigantic, in part subterranean situations often with no exit, they subvert our expectations; as real sculptures interfering with space, they are challenges to our perception. Suspended from the ceiling, hovering above the ground, and difficult to penetrate in terms of both their construction and intention, they mobilise the mental and physical flexibility of the recipient to an unsettling degree.

With these works, Bruce Nauman (*1941) has enriched the genre of sculpture in seemingly succinct fashion through his new vision and his use of unfamiliar forms and effects. The architectural works – which include one-off originals as well as the prototypes of subsequent works (as in the case of “Musical Chairs”, for example) – occupy an outstanding position within Nauman’s overall oeuvre and in the history of sculpture. One of the earliest architectural sculptures in the Raussmüller Collection is “Floating Room: Lit from Inside” (1972).

Read Christel Sauer’s text “Being an artist has to do with a way of life” – Four steps towards Bruce Nauman about the artist and his work on our online platform Raussmüller Insights.