Die Quadratur des Kreises
Troika
It always depends on the perspective
In May 2023, R+V Versicherung unveiled its latest work of art on Raiffeisenplatz in Wiesbaden: Squaring the circle. The sculpture, which is almost 3.90 meters high and 4.60 meters wide, was designed by the artist collective "Troika", which includes Eva Rucki, Conny Freyer and Sebastien Noel. With their idea, the three artists have achieved what actually seems impossible. A sculpture whose shape changes with the movement of the viewer, from a square to a circle.
0.57 degrees make the difference
The realization of the 465-kilogram stainless steel work of art was correspondingly tricky. The perfect optical illusion is created at a distance of eight meters and at a height of 1.60 meters. In order to hit exactly this point, unevenness in the ground and the topography of the installation site had to be taken into account at the planning stage. The sculpture was adjusted accordingly in the CAD system to ensure that the effect was maintained even on uneven ground. This required the sculpture to be tilted by 0.57° during installation.
Arnold perfects the optical illusion
Extremely precise work had to be carried out during production and attention had to be paid to welding distortions. The special gold paint was applied according to the artist's exact specifications. Furthermore, the welded construction of the sculpture was only allowed to have deviations in the range of 1/10 mm so as not to impair the optical illusion. In order to achieve this high level of precision, special templates and specially printed gauges were used to enable precise control of the tolerances.
Due to the size of the sculpture, it had to be produced in two parts. The joining of the two parts had to be almost invisible, which posed additional challenges during installation on site, particularly with regard to the delicate painted surface. Precision in joining the parts was crucial to maintain the integrity of the optical illusion.
We would like to thank Troika for allowing us to realize their first sculpture in a public space in Germany. Our thanks also go to R+V Versicherung for their commitment to public art projects.
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