Robert Schad: Die Spur

Institute for Disease Modeling and Targeted MedicineRobert Schad, born in Ravensburg in Upper ­Swabia, had his studio in Freiburg before ­settling in Larians in the Département Haute-Saône and in Chamosinhos in the north of ­Portugal. Conceived in 2018 and erected in 2021, the latest work, DIE SPUR, was the ­result of a competition for art-in-architecture for the new building of the Institute for Disease Modeling and Targeted Medicine (IMITATE), a research center for genetic engineering at the University Hospital Freiburg. On the street-­facing side of the building, some forty pieces of steel are assembled into a 15 x 27 x 7 meter transversely supported airy structure that draws a line meandering in free rhythms through the space and, for all its large size and heaviness, unyieldingness and angularity of the source ­material, does nevertheless conjure up impres­sions somewhere between a plant-like natural grace, sculptural ­expressionist dance, and a lightning or electrical discharge. DIE SPUR addresses the entire human being, our senses and our con­sciousness, which cannot be separated from internalized historical, artistic and bodily experience. With the new piece in Freiburg, Robert Schad has once again created a work that balances form, content, and substance in an excellently balanced way in a brilliant presentation. This volume rich in pictures with many detailed photographs as well as with the plans and project documents shows the entire creation of the sculpture up to its final installation.