Per Kirkeby, Bushaltestelle, 1997, 51°57'52.0"N 7°37'04.6"E

For the Skulptur. Projekte in Münster 1997 the Danish artist Per Kirkeby (1938–2018) was invited to return to Münster, after having contributed to the Skulptur Projekte ten years earlier with his multi-part work Brick Sculptures. ¹ Kirkeby’s concept for the bus stop was the second proposal he submitted to the city planning office, after his initial idea to erect a small market hall for bicycles in front of the Apostelkirche had been rejected by the office. The work entitled Bus Stop that was realized instead is still in use today as the “Schlossplatz stop”, providing shelter for about fifty people and acting as a noise and visual barrier for the courtyard lying behind it.

Running along the busy road alongside Schlossplatz is a brick wall that forms a meandering pattern broken up by vertical grooves at its projections. Its central segment is set back, allowing space for a shelter. The wall marks the boundary between the former schoolyard of the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gymnasium, which moved to Münster-Gievenbeck in 2006, and the adjacent road. Today, the building belongs to the University of Münster and is used by the Institute of German Studies and Biology Education. Kirkeby’s Bus Stop clearly separates the inner courtyard from the four-lane road with its pavement—with the atmosphere in the sheltered inner courtyard contrasting notably to the busy street. Previously, only a waist-high wall stood on this site, scarcely screening the courtyard from the street. The partition created by Kirkeby is not only functional in terms of providing privacy and sound insulation, but also plays a key role in defining the character of the courtyard. A number of benches, recessed into niches in the rear of the brick wall, invite visitors to linger and, in summer, offer shaded seating.

Whereas Kirkeby’s previous works were autonomous artworks in their own right—like his Brick Sculptures located just 230 metres away—the Bus Stop explicitly possesses a functional dimension. Kirkeby’s pseudo-architectural works have thus evolved into accessible, functional architecture. He continued to explore this format just three years later with another bus stop at the Insel Hombroich Foundation in Neuss. Via the work Bus Stop, Kirkeby negotiates questions regarding the social function of art in the public sphere. Given that the sculpture is being used as an everyday street furniture, questions inevitably arise regarding the design of urban infrastructure.

Marie-Féline Malavasi / Translation Barbara Lang