Regenera

Angkor Wat – here, in Völklingen? It is an association that may well come to mind when viewing the installation of French artist Benjamin Duquenne. Regenera is a botanic creature made of innumerable tree branches gathered in the Franco-German border region – or, more precisely, from the commune of Hestroff, from the Warndt area and from the site of the Völklingen Ironworks itself. This practice is in keeping with Duquenne’s cross-border work, which also investigates the topic of biodiversity. His fantastic beast has taken up residence above a tar pit of the former coking plant, in the paradise of the World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte. Its mission is to clean the air, no less – and, with the aid of its roots, to free the soil from decontamination and thereby make it habitable, once again, for other species. In a sign that his endeavour seems to be working, the artist was visited by a kingfisher on several occasions during his residence. The reawakening of once abandoned places is a central motif in Benjamin Duquenne’s work.

Jeanette Dittmar