Image: Trassen, 2017 documenta 14 in the Karlsaue in Kassel Douglas fir (painted) 5.5 x 4 x 8.5 m © Olaf Holzapfel
Olaf Holzapfel has created a new outdoor sculpture, 'Parlament', for the SCHIRN’s temporary Bockenheim site in Frankfurt am Main, where it will be inaugurated during an Artist Talk on 26 August 2026. The SCHIRN says the work is a begehbare, or walk-in, structure made from natural materials, including a timber-frame construction with willow and reed walls and a seven-metre horizontal spruce trunk that can be used as a bench.
The project extends the institution’s outdoor programme roughly a year after its move, linked to renovation, into the former Dondorf printing works. According to the SCHIRN, 'Parlament' will sit at the north-eastern entrance to the courtyard near Hall 2, functioning both as a visual marker and a place for encounter. The museum describes it as an informal, publicly accessible retreat in the form of an intimate agora, a reference to a place of political debate.
Holzapfel’s practice, as presented by the SCHIRN, focuses on the materiality and shaping of architecture, sustainable cultural techniques, and the natural resources involved in building. The institution also links the new sculpture to his abstract approach to weaving, arranging, and joining materials, an approach it says highlights relationships between people, technology and nature. In that framing, 'Parlament' is not presented as a conventional monument but as a structure whose meaning emerges through material use, handcraft and public access.
The title underlines the work’s discursive dimension. The SCHIRN says it points to the relationship between an order-seeking society and material natural and urban spaces, while also evoking the relevance of craft traditions that exist across Europe. The sculpture’s use of natural raw materials is also described as a contrast to Frankfurt’s high-rise architecture and as a reminder of the trans-European exchanges of technique that continue to shape the city’s social fabric.
In its announcement, the SCHIRN quotes its director, Sebastian Baden, who says that working with natural materials, an interest in sustainability, a critical view of a technology-driven consumer culture and a dialogical, interactive approach define Holzapfel’s work and make it a relevant artistic position in current debates. The museum also notes Holzapfel lives and works in Berlin and studied painting at the HfBK in Dresden.
The 26 August event will bring Holzapfel together with expert Kathleen Reinhardt, who is set to speak about the sculpture at 7 pm. The SCHIRN identifies Reinhardt as director of the Georg Kolbe Museum in Berlin and curator of the German Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026. It says the talk will be free and that no registration is required.
