Hermann J Kassel

Coal Stele

“Kohlenstele”, 2010

steel, coal, bubble machine, wire frame,
450 × 80 × 80 cm

Artist Hermann J Kassel designed a 4,10 m high coal stela on a square base of 0,82 × 0,82 m. It consists of a steel grid frame filled with coal. The natural resource is a reference to goods in transport and a highly demanded energy supplier. As the stela has been put up where the ‘Kohlhaus’ (residence and administration building for coal mining officials) used to be and because of the genuineness of the material, the artwork triggers a wide range of associations.
During the six weeks that the stela was exhibited on the ‘Platz der deutschen Einheit’ in Dorsten, a soap bubble machine at the top of the stela blew soap bubbles into the city center of Dorsten.
The stela’s permanent site is Dorsten, 216 Gahlenerstreet, near the Dorsten Rowing Club, original ‘Kohlhaus’ site.