The university’s sports centre was refurbished last year, and students have now given it an artistic makeover. Anyone entering the building is greeted by delicate wall drawings.
Right next to the door, a small black line begins, forming various motifs. A person wearing diving goggles and a swimming cap swims past using the crawl stroke. Further back in the building, another figure is shimmying up towards the skylights. At the end of the corridor, someone is winding up to take a shot. These sporting scenes have recently been adorning the walls of the sports centre.
As part of the ‘Aesthetic Project’ module led by Norbert Bauer, a lecturer in painting and installation, art students had the opportunity during the winter semester 19/20 to develop proposals for the design of the newly renovated corridor area in the sports centre. The idea came from Dirk Büsch, Director of the Institute of Sport Science.
The only requirement for Bauer and his students was that the theme of sport should be a central focus of the design. “For me, as a lecturer and artist, it was naturally appealing to have virtually no restrictions on the concept,” explains Bauer. The designs were to take into account the entire corridor area and the adjoining staircase leading to the swimming pool. According to Bauer, this presented an artistic challenge: “The students had to develop something original and critically engage with the challenging conditions on site. Only in this way could a piece of work be created that blends well into the overall picture.”
A committee comprising representatives from the subjects of Sport and Art, as well as the university administration, made a selection from five proposals for implementation. The ‘One Line’ design was created by a team of four students. “We had some fascinating discussions within the committee,” says Büsch. He found the differing perspectives from the fields of art and sport particularly interesting. In the end, however, the decision was clear.
The design is a piece in which all the drawings it contains are connected by a single line. “One Line Art refers to a drawing in which only a single line is used to create the image. I use this technique in my classes as a drawing exercise to develop hand-eye coordination,” explains Bauer.
Once the selection had been made, the students were originally due to paint the image onto the walls of the sports centre during the summer semester of 2020. However, due to the pandemic, this proved impossible, so the project was eventually carried out in April 2021 outside of the course programme. “First we had to decide which of the drawings would go on which wall before we could start with the pencil sketches and the final design,” says Philip Kaufmann. He is studying Art and Media as well as Philosophy and helped to bring his fellow students’ design to life at the sports centre. In total, some of the students from the course spent three full days and a further three evenings on site.
Now the corridor is shining in new splendour. “The feedback has been good; everyone here appreciates the design,” says Büsch happily, adding: “I could imagine repeating a project like this. After all, we still have quite a few blank walls.”
