Adopting a Work of Art

A relationship built up over decades, which some people have developed during walks through the Park, can be deepened further. The Adopt a Work of Art project makes it possible for visitors to declare their favourite sculpture to be their very personal “adoptive child” for one year.

Adoption means cleaning the work of art and its surroundings, its restoration and not least the preservation of the sculpture will be guaranteed. Other towns, such as Münster, have shown the way. The “Adopt a Work of Art” project has been in existence since 2006 with such success that citizens and companies wishing to be involved have to go on a waiting list. The Grugapark sculptue collection currently consists of 42 exhibits. Well known national and international representatives of figurative and abstract sculpture such as Henry Moore, Auguste Rodin or the artist couple Matschinsky-Denninghoff lift the Grugapark to the level of a first class sculpture park.

The unprotected location in the fields well away from shelter provided in museums leaves it mark on the objets d’art over the years, which are mostly particularly appealing, but which can sometimes disfigure a beautiful face. For example, one of the best known and most popular sculptures in the Park, the Large Bathing Figure has suffered from the legacy of the numerous birds on the Waldsee. Its beautiful bronze head is being deformed and the surface increasingly damaged by the aggressive bird droppings. Stone sculptures such as the "Faun" by Klaus John or the “Coal Porter” by Bruno Krell show the weather damage which is to be expected, such as moss cover. In these cases art adoptions can make it possible to clean the sculptures. There is also the possibility to revitalise a sculpture with the help of art adoption. The bronze “Drinking Fountain” by Kurt Link in the Music Garden provided its water for the Federal Garden Show (Bundesgartenschau) in 1965. But for cost reasons this source ran dry again soon after. An adoption would recreate the original function of the sculpture and allow the “Drink Fountain” to begin to flow again.

Because the adoptions are sub-divided into maintenance and restoration adoptions not only companies can sponsor a sculpture but private individuals can too.
More information on the subject of adopting a work of art can be obtained from the Head of the project, Dr Julia Ruether, Telephone: +49 (0)201 / 88 83 115.