HEINZ WITTHOEFT AT 52 HEINZ WITTHOEFT AT 53 TAIL 13 A . FRAME Witthöft with studies for an Architecturtaile construction kit. 195 Heinz Witthöft Talk TAIL 13 A . FRAME nature. I grew up as a street kid, and that has stayed with me. I wouldn’t call myself a dropout, but I’ve never been a social climber. I’ve always felt that I was different. That’s why I’m not so financially successful; my ambitions don’t point in that direction. People tell me I should be rich, but I feel more like a black sheep in a special family. You’ve been searching, you say, yet your work has centred on the same theme for over 50 years . . . Part of my attitude is a refusal to play it safe. I need to feel a degree of risk. On the other hand, I’m very loyal – and that sense of loyalty applies to my work as well. I still care for and work with some of my earlier pieces, such as my picture frames. Can you explain your approach? I see no boundaries between fine art and applied art. I’ve made both sculptural pieces and practical objects. I am anything but a designer. In my opinion, design is orientated towards commerce and acceptance in the market. My work is the exact opposite. The overriding strategy that directs your work has been there from the start. It dictates what you ‘I see no boundaries between fine and applied art’ make, how you make it and even how you name your pieces. How would you describe this strategy? Even as a student, I had this idea of another kind of city as a complete entity. I have now arrived at the conclusion that the city is, for me, the only conceivable form of Gesamtkunstwerk [total work of art]. I want to achieve a city of human culture – ‘culture’ in the sense of a hive of bees, which concerns both a built structure and the existence of its inhabitants. I call this idea Station rather than Stadt [station rather than city]. My goal is to build the entire thing from carefully defined, individual components that are densely packed within the urban structure. Just as bees have a surrounding area from which they collect their food, my city lies within a ring where inhabitants collect and produce their own food. This model is also a statement that addresses all the world’s problems. I try to live this way; I don’t fly or travel by car – only by foot, bicycle or train. How do your furniture pieces and systems fit into your conceptual city? Are they all part of it as well? Yes, that is my goal. My city – and its architecture – is made of building blocks and elements that I call ‘tails’, a reference to both detail and Teil [piece]. Variety among these ‘tails’ replaces surface ornamentation. Modernism and modern architecture have failed to recognize the qualities of the city and to develop a new form of urbanism for our society. But today’s cities are all chaos, complexity and communication. They are more organic than structured. Isn’t the formulated model that forces people into a given structure – a utopian city as suggested by Le Corbusier, among others – now outdated? A friend of mine once said that I am creating a paradise for criminals. But I like what Socrates says [in Valéry’s Eupalinos ou l’architecte]: ‘The greatest freedom is born of maximum rigour.’ There is a very high level of substantial differentiation in my city, horizontally as well as vertically. Today’s urban development is, to a certain extent, a kind of anarchy; whoever has the money builds a house – wherever. How would you describe the philosophy behind your city? My goal is to attain a kind of republic – a place that is relatively autonomous. My city has only one solitary [public] building at its centre: the ‘house of civil culture’. There are no banks, skyscrapers, religious edifices, car museums and such – no manifestations of power. What about the people? There will be no majorities that are defined by religion or wealth. From the outset, it will be a place centred on human culture, in the broadest sense of the term. Let’s talk about your furniture, all of which is based on the same format. To what extent were you influenced by other designers of furniture systems – … Limited-edition, 1:5 scale model of Tail 13 A, an armchair made from two sheets of 6-mm-thick stainless steel. … Marcel Breuer’s early wooden chairs. They made me feel that I was something special. I was like a sponge back then. In Kiel it was impossible to get hold of a single design magazine, so this kind of contact was very important. You moved to Stuttgart after finishing your studies. What drew you there? I got a tax refund from work that I’d done during the holidays. It was just enough to make it to Stuttgart by train, so that’s where I went – with my portfolio under my arm. I originally wanted to go to Switzerland or Milan. To this day, I still say I’m just passing through. I’ve never really identified with the city, which is why I always provide the geographical coordinates of where I’m based rather than the name of the place. The problem was that I never really knew what I wanted or where I wanted to go, but I was always searching, trying to reach an idea I had in mind. I am very freedom-orientated by 196 Heinz Witthöft Talk
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ1Mzg4OQ==