Christian Gonzenbach

Néolithes

Néolithes, 2010

Concrete, melded construction elements

3 Rocks approx. 300 X 200 X 100 cm

In the courtyard of an apartment complex in Lancy, Switzerland, Neolithes rest. As the winner of a contest to utilize the common space in the new housing project, the artist conflated the past and the present by repurposing the old structural materials from the previous buildings when they were destroyed for the rise of the new ones. The piles of debris (bricks, tiles, etc.) were melded together with concrete and transformed into three monumental pebbles residing peacefully as if in a Zen garden, their sinewy curves counterbalancing the geometric rigors of the surrounding buildings.