North West Cambridge: Winter and Hörbelt

The Details

The Fata Morgana Teahouse and Pixel Wall, two artworks by artists Wolfgang Winter and Berthold Hörbelt, comprise the second permanent commission to be realised for the North West Cambridge Development.

The artists worked with masterplanners AECOM to provide a creative perspective on the overall landscape development of the Western Edge. The idea of a journey became an important focus for the artists and the Anglo Saxon poem ‘The Wanderer’ provided inspiration. The Wanderer moves about without destination or purpose, open to perceptions of the surroundings, views, sounds, and smells. The journey triggers an internal process of reflection and contemplation – inspired directly from the place and the moment.

Winter and Hörbelt have established in their practice a deep understanding of how public space can be a place for everyone, including those who may not have any interest in public art at all.

The two works offer multiple readings. They are social spaces, landmarks or contemporary garden follies. They are testament to the ordinariness of mass-produced materials or can simply be admired as spectacular feats of engineering and making. Looking through a steel grid mesh or at a pixelated mirror surface, our perception of the landscape is refracted and dissected. From distant views, the mirrored surface of these otherworldly structures causes them to appear and disappear in the shifting light, reflecting the landscape and being absorbed into it.

At the heart of the work is the idea that the sculptures are places where people can meet, be, experience. This is a central aim for the Western Edge of Eddington – to act as an informal social realm, bringing people together for recreation, relaxation and pleasure.