Change on perspective –

„Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.“ (Banksy)

Shortly after the hammer fell, the art world held its breath in astonishment as the Banksy work “Girl with the Balloon” – just auctioned for the equivalent of 1.2 million euros – rattled through a shredder hidden in the frame. For the first time during an auction, a work was destroyed by the artist themselves. And at the same instant, a new work was created. Under the title “Love is in the Bin”, the newly created work has since been auctioned for many times the original selling price.

The artistic process is a process of making, and it sometimes demands that we first deconstruct existing processes and habits that have possibly become dear to us. Herein also arises the elementary question of how the new arrives in the world. In town planning, no one questions that the old must give way to make room for the new. But in art, this process still triggers responses ranging from irritation to even genuine pain. Looking at photos from the auction of Banksy‘s Girl with the Balloon, it’s clear that the “public” in attendance was deeply appalled – because it was not (yet) able to categorise the process of destruction as an artistic action. And it is precisely the moment of surprise that appears to be the secret of this action. It was a thoroughly uncomfortable moment, and its effect was only achievable because of the discomfort. And it was a high-risk choice – imagine if the trigger for the shredder had been pressed just a moment too early, before the sale had completed.

So it’s clear that the effect of this action is based on disruption – of the daily grind, of routine, of expectation. But it is this very disruption that enables us to change our perspective; to dive into and experience the artistic moment itself. Even – and specifically – if that is painful. This is the only way we can leave or reconsider accustomed pathways, or walk them anew. Or even seek out completely new routes. So to look at it the other way round, you could also say that any process of making is an artistic one. And that as makers we are always also permitted to see ourselves as creators. And this inventiveness, this creativity (derived from the Latin creare, “to make”) is exactly what we need in all areas of life.

Paul Schatz studied various natural sciences, but later turned his hand to artistic education – disappointed by the one-dimensional abstract thinking of university courses. There was a close connection between his subsequent sculpture work and his engagement with anthroposophy. He was seeking a way of thinking “in the clarity of which the artistic does not perish.” One particular discovery in his research was the principle of eversion, the recognition that any rigid body has within it the possibility for movement and therefore eversion, or turning inside out. Accordingly, all Platonic bodies can be turned inside out.

It‘s no coincidence that the principle of eversion runs through all the companies in Neuguss Group. First very concretely, in the oloid shape he discovered and which forms the basis for the mixers made by the company of the same name. The dice everted from edge movements was the basis for a rolling body which is suitable for a huge range of technical applications, thanks to rhythmically pulsing movements that make it extremely energy-efficient. It is also involved in production processes at the Berlin-based Rexroth business. And not least, the eversion principle can also be seen at work in the logo of STOCKMAR. But eversion also runs through Neuguss Group on another level, as a uniting theme and a separate quality: it is reflected in the rhythm, mobility, and agility of all processes that make up the culture of Neuguss Group. This principle is as much a reminder as it is an incitement to keep changing perspectives. However diverse the companies in Neuguss Group, they are all equally capable of mastering the “narrow” and “wide” phases of this corporate group’s story, to shape them, and when the new is needed, also to transform them – into a new piece of art, without which the old could never have existed.