CUCKOO BLOCKS | GUIDO ZIMMERMANN
Description provided by the designer. “Cuckoo Blocks“ is Guido Zimmermann‘s answer to the traditional Black Forest cuckoo clock. The shell is new, but the soul – a clock-work with cuckoo — has remained.
The sculptures combine two aspects. They offer a contemporary view of urban living, as well as a retake on a style of modern architecture: brutalism.
The classic cuckoo clock is a symbol for the prosperity of the middle class and considered a kind of luxury for the home. The updated version, a prefabricated panel construction (“Plattenbau”), reveals today‘s urban and social life in residential tower blocks. Increasing rent prices in metropolises are causing the descent of this middle class.
Zimmermann brutally stages these „Cuckoo Blocks“. The expressive architectural style still causes ambivalence today: grey concrete monsters or functional architecture? The selected buildings also illustrate a change in the history of usage:
Built in 1969 by Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer, the hotel „La Flaine“ stands for the construction art of the modern age. On the other hand, it is often considered a grey eyesore, because the massive hotel complex made of raw concrete sticks out in the middle of the otherwise untouched nature of the French Alps.
Ernö Goldfinger, renowned for his clear and rational architecture, developed the “Glenkerry House“ that was completed in 1970. While it once gave shelter to the average citizen, the skyscraper offers a barely affordable lifestyle in London today.
Watch the video of the clocks being made below
Cuckoo Blocks Video
