Angels of Time
2001
Site specific installation
36 UV water proofed digital c-prints on aluminum, cm 200×100 each, 8 channel sound diffusion of recorded infant voices and chirping birds in the public garden
City of Luxembourg
About this work
Commissioned by Casino Luxembourg, Forum d’Art Contemporain, Wolf’s site specific installation responded to place, history, and the passage of time. Using imagery of Luxembourg’s Ducal family originally printed as postcards in the 1920’s, the artist re-photographed the ephemera to produce 36 large format prints and intentionally blurred and effaced the original portraits with reflected lights. These photographs were then placed around the lawn and paths of an Italian-styled garden overlooking the Petrusse Valley.
The photographs are accompanied by recordings of children playing and birds chirping.
As the garden itself is actually inaccessible to the public, the soundscape attracted the attention of passersby and drew interest from the nearby Roosevelt Boulevard, Place de la Constitution, and the terrace in front of the Casino.
The photographs, which had to be moved around the garden every 48 hours in order to preserve the integrity of the lawn, carried with them both the weight of history and, due to the constant rearrangement and the blurred visages, a space of slippage where anyone could identify their place in a family portrait. In this way, Wolf created an installation that was at once nostalgic and forward looking.
As the artist, reflects:
The wind of memory has laid the images of the children of the Grand-Ducal Family of Luxembourg on the rampart of the city. The white icons of the infants rest scattered in the garden like migrant birds of time. Human beings, origins of the city, symbols of power and nature appear in the present time of the viewers experience.