KOLLHOFF + PALADINO

About This Project

In the garden of Schloss Schwetzingen, near Heidelberg, there is a marvellous feature that has impressed me since I was a student. It’s called The End of the World, and it’s the view through a dark tunnel of hedging of a painted landscape, illuminated from above and seemingly far away. It is the romantic view from a grotto towards infinity, the view of Caspar David Friedrich, the view of Karl Friedrich Schinkel on his first visit to Italy.

It is also Le Corbusier’s view of the serapeum at Hadrian’s Villa, which was to become important for Ronchamp. A hemisphere captures light and reveals the work of art to visitors emerging from the darkness. The work of art, the space and the people blend together in indissoluble unity beneath the daylight falling from above. Does contemporary art take place differently? Here it can be experienced like this.