History

In the beginning of "Time Puddles" was the idea of "dropping paint" (itself originating from the more general concept conceiving caloured paint as being raw material (and not as a means in painting) (Fig. 1+2)). The paint should drop by chance, following the cast of a dice. The search of an appropriate paint container resulted eventually in using the ball of a Foucault pendulum. Despite some similarities, this is different from the technique of oscillation developed by Max Ernst (1942). Paint drips out of a tin perforated with a number of holes, attached to a long string and swung to and fro over the canvas, for example "Jeune homme intrigué par le vol d'une mouche non-euclidienne" (Young man intrigued by the flight of a non-Euclidean fly (Fig. 3). This method inspired Jackson Pollock's drip paintings and later action painting.

 

Fig. 1: Paint as raw material. Bernhard W.L. Schwarz "Gelbe Farbe" (1980) (BWLS 1980-002; Copyright: Bernhard W. L. Schwarz und VG Bild-Kunst).

 

Fig. 2: AX S 84. Paint as raw material: "2 x 400g paint brought into relation with each other" (1984)

 

Fig. 3: Max Ernst (1942) Young man intrigued by the flight of a non-Euclidean fly (© VG Bild-Kunst)

 

Introducing a Foucault pendulum amounts, however, to a quantum leap of the original project, with further inherent implications and interpretations regarding the "philosophy" of the pendulum, TIME, evolution (chance and necessity). This semantic metamorphosis of the original project may blur the former intentions ("dropping paint"). "Time Puddles" (Fig. 4) has found its own purpose and destiny&.

Fig.. 4: Installation of "Time Puddles" in the northern tower of the market chapel in Goslar/Germany, from 24th of september to 3rd of november 1985

Between 1984 and 2004, "Time Puddles" was mounted repeatedly at the market chapel in Goslar, in collaboration with the Mönchehaus Museum of Modern Art, Goslar/Germany

Epilogue: In 2018 Gerhard Richter realised, in Münster/Germany, the installation "Two Gray Double Mirrors for a Pendulum", consisting of a Foucault pendulum, a circular stone plate under which the pendulum moves, and four mirroring vertical glass panels (each 600 x 134 cm).