Started the day at the old railway station, built 1851-56 and today partly used for local trains and the rest empty or used for new purposes. Just north of the station are the manufacturing halls of Henschel and Sohn, which was one of the most important suppliers of armaments in the Second World War.
Brilliant piece by Istvan Csakany - a model of a rag trade factory all made out of wood
Haegue Yang's electric blinds could have been very exciting but needed more of them shutting and closing at the same time along the platform.
One of my highlights so far - Lara Favaretto's 400 tons of scrap metal next to the abandoned railway sidings. The work is about looking at these massive piles of metal as a momentary monument and comparing it to taking 9 pieces and putting them on plinths in a gallery setting.
One of the attendants pointed out this old bakery oven to me - put that on the list ...
In the gallery.
The next work was also a highlight - Susan Philipsz's sound piece reflecting the position of the station in history as a collection and departure point for Jews in 1941-42 to the concentration camps of Terezin and Auschwitz. The music is a disassembled version of a holocaust victim, Pavel Haas, Study for Strings, and is played out of 7 tannoys at the end of platforms 10 and 11. Very moving and thought provoking.
The Willie Doherty 20 minute film, Secretion 2012, about dying trees also references Kassel's role in the Holocaust but in a more abstract way.
Found the first of Susan Hiller's five jukeboxes around the exhibition - her selection of 100 protest songs. I put on a Frank Zappa track for old time's sake.
Took some time to find the children's library which had a popular piece of work by Matias Faldbakken - I just felt he should grow up - but that's probably just the reaction he was looking for ...
Some interesting kinetic pieces in another location by Thomas Bayrle.
Jukebox two found and Frank selected.
Song Dong's massive pile of rubbish planted with a wide selection of grasses and flowers - Doing Nothing Garden 2010-2012
Finished with a wave pond surrounded by wheat by Massimo Bartolini - titled Untitled (Wave) 1997-2012
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