Art has the extraordinary power to transform raw materials into ideas and overturn rules to create wonder. This is what happens when artist Eduard Habicher uses steel for his sculptures. Demonstrating both his deep understanding and skill in mastering this metal, he bends it into suspended structures that hover in an apparently precarious equilibrium that makes them look as if they are about to take flight.
To mark the occasion of Habicher’s exhibition Memory in Motion, hosted at both Museion and Piccolo Museion – Cubo Garutti, a group of people from La Rotonda – the Officine Vispa social cooperative center in Bolzano’s Don Bosco district – visited the artist in his studio, which he calls ‘the workshop’, in Rifiano. This article is a direct account of that April afternoon, recorded by Laura Pernechele (Educational Projects Manager) and Mette Zannato (Curatorial Assistant), who accompanied the group.
We arrive on a sunny day. Eduard Habicher meets us outside the building, a structure he designed himself with ultra-high ceilings and irregularly shaped windows, specifically placed so his sculptures can be seen from different perspectives. A leafy vine climbs the light, smooth façade. In late summer – the artist informs us – if you fancy some grapes, you can just reach out of the window and pick them.
On entering, we encounter several works in progress and a pile of still untreated steel girders, stacked neatly against a wall. The group already feels at home with the artist, and everyone is immediately pragmatically curious.
How do you make your sculptures?
Eduard Habicher answers the question by inviting us into the metalworking area of the workshop. A strong smell of metal and resin fills the air. All the tools of his trade are in the room: a circular saw, a hydraulic press…
Eduard Habicher: The sculptures mainly consist of bent and twisted steel girders, which are then coated with a waterproof red resin. These materials play a fundamental role in my artworks and creating a perception of their physicality and elasticity is important.
The artist then gives one of the sculptures a shake. It is a long tentacle of polished steel, holding a lump of raw blue Murano glass. The sculpture begins to wobble as if it were made of rubber.
EH: I see sculpture as part of life. A rigid object that suddenly flexes and moves and becomes light and airy.
Why the red color?
EH: Initially it was ordinary, polished steel. I could really feel this material. It was like a line of energy in space, that leapt and wriggled. In urban contexts - where many of my works are located - these sculptures tended to blend in with the road signs. So, I decided to color them red, as it gives them a unique visual force that makes them stand out.
How did the idea of using these materials come about?
EH: It started when I was at Art School where I used more traditional materials and classical techniques. I used to make slender, soaring fireclay sculptures that already had this upward tension. But that material was too fragile… when my works came back from exhibitions, they were always chipped and broken. I am a very practical person, and as it was clear a more robust and solid material was needed, I started working with steel.
We move to another area, where there is a wall cabinet displaying models of the artist’s sculptures. Most of the group are already familiar with the Habicher sculptures in the local area. One person spots the model of a sculpture at a friend’s house in Bronzolo. Another recognizes one that can be seen from the Frangarto bike path. Then there are the sculptures at the “Witches’ House” in Colle di Villa, in the municipality of Bolzano, that look like they are rolling down a hill. A woman picks out a familiar sculpture. It consists of two circles, one above the other. One blue and one silver:
That one is tucked away on Via Buozzi!
EH: Yes, this one is special because it’s blue. The local authorities were afraid that if it were red, it would get confused with the stop signs…
Once you have the model, how long does it take for you to create the sculpture?
These are works that require many hours of work… They can take weeks or even months.
How do you operate with private clients? Do you decide together how the sculpture will be created?
EH: Usually, someone that appreciates your work gets in touch and asks you for a sculpture. It is not like choosing a finished painting and buying it. It is a long, drawn-out process, in which something is created together through conversations. Often, these works have also led to great friendships.
What is the furthest destination your works have reached?
EH: Uruguay. That work is a 12-meter sculpture. It is suspended over a lake, so it plays with its own reflection in the water. I made it in 2010 for the Fundación Pablo Atchugarry.
The La Rotonda center volunteer handyman sets the artist a challenge:
Why don’t you teach me how to make these sculptures, so I can copy them and exhibit them at La Rotonda. It would be great to have one of our own!
The idea of a garden of “artist fakes” in front of La Rotonda makes the whole group laugh. We move to the large central area of the studio, where large red steel sculptures soar up towards the high ceilings. Habicher pushes one to make it sway.
EH: Even a breath of wind gets them moving … but they are stable!
He encourages us to interact with the works by stepping inside them and feeling their embrace. The group starts taking selfies inside them. They sit on them, make them sway and pose inside this tangle of red girders. The visit ends with laughter, group photos and more questions, while the sculptures continue to sway airily in the artist’s studio.
Eduard Habicher. Memory in Motion
The Memory in Motion exhibition at Museion Passage, presents four monumental sculptures created specifically for the occasion: Hommage, Passage, Geöffnet–aperto and Pro-tetto. The works are made of industrial girders and stainless steel, materials traditionally associated with rationality, stability, and functionality. Thanks to precise workmanship, these materials are bent, opened, and rebalanced to create sculptural lines that transmit a surprising sense of lightness despite their mass. A central element of Habicher’s work is his distinctive use of red. This “red line” also runs through the sculptures made for Passage, stretching across the space, defining it, and visually linking the individual works. Placed directly in this display area with no pedestals, the sculptures engage with the public by becoming part of the environment and the daily flow of movement through it.
Curated by the Museion Passage Group in collaboration with the artist Eduard Habicher.
Runs until 31.01.2027
Free admission
