Project

For the exhibition „Kopfsache“ (21 June – 7 September 2025) in the Funnix Sculpture Garden in East Frisia, the sculptor Cornelia Weihe has created a roughly 2.50-metre-high steel sculpture – a transparent structure in a spiral movement reminiscent of a head. To protect the object permanently from the weather, the circular surface ecoZINQ was used. This not only provided reliable corrosion protection, but also enabled the subsequent white paint finish, which further emphasised the effect of light and transparency.

 

client

Cornelia Weihe is a renowned German painter and sculptor with a focus on metal sculpture. Following her studies at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle, she worked as an artistic assistant at the same institution for over three decades, shaping generations of emerging artists there. Her works, frequently displayed in public spaces, are characterised by a poetic, abstract idiom and masterful command of materials – always with a keen sense of space, movement and expression.

Further information at: www.cornelia-weihe.de

 

When art meets metal, special synergies often arise. In spring 2025, such a connection became visible in the workshop of sculptor Cornelia Weihe. For the 2025 exhibition season in the Funnix sculpture garden in East Frisia, which is themed „Mend Your Head“, she created the approximately 2.50-metre-high steel sculpture „Caputlux“ – a stylised head, without a face, protected and refined with the CO2-reduced surface ecoZINQ.

The female sculptor, painter and long-standing artistic collaborator at what is now Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle is known for her work with metal. Cornelia Weihe's new sculpture consists of around 20 flat steel strips, each about six metres long and three millimetres thick. Without bending machines, using solely her own manual strength and the elasticity of the material, Weihe shaped the steel strips into an upward-soaring, rotating spiral that is reminiscent of an open head. Supporting structures were integrated during the creation process to ensure the necessary stability of the dynamic form.

„The elasticity of the material was a challenge for me, but also a gift – it could be shaped almost like butter with two hands,“ Weihe explained. She deliberately refrained from using machine processing, seeing creases and small irregularities as an expression of the material and an integral part of the artistic process. Light and shadow play through the open spaces, constantly changing the effect of the sculpture depending on the time of day and the weather.

Inspired by her initial paper-strip designs, Weihe opted for a final white lacquer finish that enhances the light reflections and harmoniously integrates the sculpture into the East Frisian garden landscape. „White absorbs the colours of nature and makes the form appear alive – never the same, always in dialogue with the surroundings.“

The name „Caputlux“, composed of the Latin words caput (head) and lux (light), underlines the artist's intention to unite thoughts, movement and perception in a transparent, luminous object that dissolves the boundaries between the interior space and the outside world. „I was concerned with a large rotating movement taking place within this form, being moved as a theme and at the same time the permeability of the inner and outer worlds, thoughts, perception, rotating around its own axis. Light in the sense of the penetration and permeability of thoughts. But I don't want to dictate that to anyone, that's my interpretation.“

 

perfect foundation: ecoZINQ

To permanently preserve this special artistic effect, she had the object galvanised with ecoZINQ at the ZINQ site in Halle / Landsberg (bath dimensions: 5.5 metres long, 2.0 metres wide and 3.20 metres deep). The circular surface permanently protects the steel against corrosion – without compromising the lightness or openness of the form. „The artwork should not rust and with ecoZINQ I have this certainty plus a perfect base for my paintwork.“

ecoZINQ delivers 43 % fewer CO₂ emissions compared with conventional hot-dip galvanising processes. „This is made possible by the use of CO2- reduced primary zinc from renewable energies as well as CO2“reduced secondary zinc,„ explains Jens Lux from the ZINQ service centre in Landsberg/Halle. “An added value that our customers can already see in black and white on their invoice today – in the form of concrete carbon credits, which are credited to them by ZINQ in the amount of the emissions saved."

Following its artistic creation from February to March 2025, the approximately 95-kilogram sculpture was galvanised by ZINQ, painted by Cornelia Weihe and installed in June – an altogether smooth and precise process.

 

Exhibition Headspace

From 21 June 2025, the art object will be on display in the Funnix sculpture garden – a special place in Lower Saxony's Harlingerland region. The connection to the region runs deep: curator Leonard Wübbena has known Weihe since the 1990s and her work has featured in the sculpture garden on several occasions. Other renowned steel sculptors and guest artists also exhibit their works there amidst a lovingly landscaped garden setting. The exhibition „Kopfsache“ invites visitors to 'rack their brains over enigmatic head sculptures'. Cornelia Weihe's white head is sure to be a particularly inspiring contribution to this.