PRESSURE WASHING & STEAM CLEANING
Last month, we told you all about some of the impressive cleaning projects that Kärcher has worked on over the years as part of its cultural sponsorship programme. This programme has seen the company clean landmarks all over the world, from the Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro and the Statue of Liberty in New York, to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate and the London Eye.
This time around, we look at a series of slightly unusual projects where Kärcher has teamed up with German ‘reverse graffiti artist’ Klaus Dauven to create some spectacular pieces of art on some of the largest ‘canvases’ in the world. The partnership ‘painted’ these pieces onto the surface of dams in Germany, Japan and South Korea simply by using their range of pressure washers.
Klaus, whose artwork is displayed primarily in public spaces, has
been using Kärcher’s high-pressure cleaners since 2003 to create temporary artworks on garden walls, underpasses and on bridge abutments, among other places. He closely examines the environment, which he says serves as his canvas, and incorporates this into his artwork, but without permanently changing it, as with conventional graffiti.
In each project, the image was digitised and projected onto the dam surface using laser technology. Measurement points were then marked onto the wall using modelling clay and connected by Dauven, to create a guide for the ‘artists’ – essentially creating a large scale ‘painting by numbers’ before the high- pressure cleaners came into play to create the stunning art pieces.
We caught up with Kärcher to find out a bit more about these unique projects.
Olef Dam, Germany Back in April 2007, Kärcher made their first foray into not just preserving but making art, creating the world’s largest drawing on the 282-metre long, 59-metre high wall of the Olef Dam in Hellenthal, in Germany’s Eifel region.
The artwork, which measures 8,000m2
in size, took just two weeks
to complete and is entitled “Wildlife Variations” as it depicts larger-than- life-size animal motifs. The decision was a very deliberate one from artist Klaus Dauven, who said: “The interplay between woodland animals and fish is very appropriate for the surrounding national park and lake.”
Following more than a year of extensive planning, the project got underway on 2nd April 2007. As the team removed moss, algae and lichen from the surface of the dam, they gradually revealed the individual elements of the piece. Squirrels, deer, pike, buzzards and other wildlife have been impressively depicted in the contrast between the cleaned, light-coloured dam wall and the still dirty, dark surface.
A number of curious onlookers and tourists watched the project unfold with interest, and once it was completed, Mayor Manfred Ernst said: “With this artwork, we have gained an attraction.”
Olef Dam Fact File
Built: 1954-59 Height: 59m Length: 282m
Location: Hellenthal, Eifel Products Used: Kärcher HD 10/25 S
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