2024, Vienna
Cycle frieze - Nurse log for new arrivals
Cycle frieze by Gabriele Sturm, Quartier Bienvenue, Puchsbaumgasse 1, 1100 Vienna
permanent art project by Gabriele Sturm for Quartier Bienvenue in the garbage room of the central building
2025
Waste will accumulate in the garbage room, which will be deposited in waste disposals of the City of Vienna. The recovery and recycling of raw materials through waste separation is the first and essential step in this process, which is being sought and has already been established to some extent. The limits of recycling are currently being discussed intensively especially concerning plastic. Waste avoidance is a key objective for the future of our planet. There is no waste in nature that needs to be disposed of as waste.
Cycle frieze - Nurse log for new arrivals creates an awareness for these complex ecological issues and the responsibility of each of us.
Instead of considering waste simply as garbage that needs to be disposed of and dumped, the "Cycle frieze" shows a process of transformation into new, diverse life forms of different species.
The art project thus turns the garbage room into a tangible space that sensitizes the residents' attention to the complex ecological processes of our environment and the sustainable use of resources and the circular economy. The garbage room is thus emancipated from being an ancillary room to become an important space for coexistence and communal responsibility.
The "Nurse log" as a synonym for the "Quartier Bienvenue "
In nature, the process of transformation is more than just a cycle, as these processes are multi-layered and complex, with many variations and further developments. But in simplified terms, we understand this as a cycle, which is the model for our goals of a circular economy.
The frieze shows the transformation of the diverse processes that take place in bio-diverse habitats where there is no waste, but where the nurse log, i.e. the transformation of a tree into a new biotope, enables a particularly rich biotope of species.
A nurse log is a fallen or broken, usually old tree. It provides an environment with many "care factors" such as water, mosses, lichens, mycorrhizae, protection against disease, food, etc. for optimal germination and rooting. A nurse log forms a particularly attractive habitat for newcomers of all kinds (for seeds, many endangered animal species, more than 600 species of large fungi, thousands of beetle species, woodpeckers and other insect eaters and many insect species such as ants and butterflies). The majority of our 1,000 wasp and bee species need old and dead wood, in the best case a nurse log.
The biodiversity factors and its elements for the circular economy, which prepare fertile soil for the next generation, are translated graphically in the wall painting. The gray of the exposed concrete is included as an essential element in the drawing/mural. The complex shifting of dimensions in the frieze encourages the viewer to look closely in order to perceive the details.