“Beauty meets practicality” someone once said. Here, before us, stands Line of Beauty – das fünfte Klärwerk. This artwork brings together the aesthetic and the functional. It is located near Mühlenstraße in Bergkamen.
Line of Beauty – das fünfte Klärwerk is a land-art project. It makes the changes to the Seseke river visible. The Seseke’s course has changed a lot. Artist Susanne Lorenz shows three phases of the river’s life.
First, she shows the Seseke before it was straightened in 1920. Second, she presents the Seseke as a sewage canal. This was after the river was straightened. Finally, she displays the Seseke as a mostly renatured river.
The artwork uses a curved line framed by wood. This line traces the river’s historic path. The wood marks a section where water plants help clean the river. Above the sculpture, a bicycle path follows the curved line. This path shows the artist’s changes to the river.
Since ancient times, people have combined beauty and usefulness. Line of Beauty – das fünfte Klärwerk continues this tradition. It joins the beautiful form with the practical act of cleaning water. But what is the beautiful part? Is it the designed art? Or is it the natural river that the art defines?
Susanne Lorenz created Line of Beauty – das fünfte Klärwerk for the Ruhr.2010 project. The project was called “Über Wasser Gehen”. This translates to “Going Over Water”. The artwork was built in 2010.
Consider the beauty around us. Reflect on how art can improve nature. Line of Beauty – das fünfte Klärwerk encourages us to see beauty in unexpected places.