“Catenane” Sculpture Dedication
19 February 2010
A sculpture by the Heidelberg artist Klaus Horstmann-Czech will be dedicated on 22 February 2010 outside the new building of the Institute of Organic Chemistry (Im Neuenheimer Feld 271). “This generous gift from the Athenaeum Foundation for Culture and Science established by Prof. Dr. Dietrich Götze is an eye-catching new presence at a prominent location on the university campus,” said Prof. Dr. Lutz H. Gade, vice-dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences. He went on to explain that the sculpture, entitled “Catenane”, was inspired by the eponymous type of chemical compound notable for its striking molecular architecture.
Catenanes have molecules with two ring systems that interlock like links in a chain (Latin: “catena”) but they are not chemically bound. Klaus Horstmann-Czech’s artistic response to this phenomenon is designed to symbolise the close associations between the scientific disciplines on the Neuenheimer Feld campus. A special feature of the sculpture is the torsion of the rings to form so-called Möbius strips that mirror one another. This phenomenon, known as helicity, is common in chemistry and biology, for example as a structural property of DNA. In physics it manifests itself in the asymmetry of fundamental natural laws.
Klaus Horstmann-Czech (b. 1943) lives and works in Heidelberg and Marina di Carrara (Italy). Much of his work centres around the representation of elemental structures of solid bodies in marble, steel and bronze. Sculptures by the artist are on show in Heidelberg, Berlin, Vicenza (Italy), Silkeborg (Denmark) and various other locations.
At the dedication of the sculpture outside the building Im Neuenheimer Feld 271, there will be speeches by Prof. Dr. Dietrich Götze, Honorary Senator of Heidelberg University, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Eitel, Rector of the University and Prof. Dr. Lutz H. Gade. Art critic Dr. Milan Chlumsky (Heidelberg) will introduce the sculpture. The dedication begins at 11 a.m.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Lutz H. Gade
Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences
phone: +49 6221 548443
lutz.gade@uni-hd.de
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