Yana Wernicke: From quarry to art gallery – the red Main sandstone

Cooperation with the HSBI 2022/23

Rising red sandstone in the quarry with traces of cut stones.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023

How did the red Main sandstone get to Bielefeld? Yana Wernicke reports on the Kunsthalle Bielefeld’s unusual material for the region and her photographic approach to a stone with a long history.

Sandstone has shaped the image of our cities for thousands of years. Castles, palaces, churches and prestigious town houses were built from sandstone. The surface and color of the stone vary from region to region and give cityscapes their characteristic regional appearance. The reddish coloration of the Kunsthalle’s façade is mainly found in quarries along the River Main in Germany.

How did this building material, which is popular in the Rhine-Main region, come to be used in East Westphalia? Wouldn’t the ambitious museum design have called for a different, more noble material? In fact, it was probably a question of money. Originally, the building by US star architect Philip Johnson was to be clad in granite. However, the idea was rejected due to rising costs.1 The economic necessity resulted in a design coincidence that proved to be a success, as this is the only reason why the Kunsthalle stands there today in a striking red. What would it have looked like if it had actually been made of granite? Perhaps it is precisely the less expensive red Main sandstone that gives the building its uniqueness and – in contrast to the granite – lends the monumental building a less threatening appearance. Perhaps it is also the hand-crafted scratching of the sandstone slabs that makes the building appear closer and more alive.

To get to the bottom of the red Main sandstone, Yana Wernicke goes in search of quarries where it is still mined today. She finds what she is looking for in Miltenberg in Lower Franconia, at the fourth-generation family-run natural stone factory “Wassum” – one of the few that is still allowed to quarry the red Main sandstone today. Here she was not only able to take photographs, but also gained in-depth insights into the special features and processing of the red stone, which in turn strongly influenced her view of the Kunsthalle. The photo series was created in three locations: in Bielefeld directly at the Kunsthalle, in the Wassum sandstone factory and at home in the studio.
The building itself interests her as a monumental, red structure, whose formal counterparts she finds in the vertically sloping walls of the quarry. The square dimensions of the façade stone slabs have visual references in the cuboids of the freshly quarried stone. She pays particular attention to the nature and origin of the material as well as its wear and tear in the form of marks and repaired, patched areas. Still lifes arranged in the studio from pieces of stone brought from Miltenberg take up the architectural gestures of the Kunsthalle in their basic forms and are playfully reproduced with minimal means.

1 Friedrich Meschede (ed.), 50 Years of Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Cologne, 2018, p. 24.

The work was created as part of text-image seminars with Prof. Roman Bezjak and Prof. Dr. Andreas Beaugrand from the Department of Design at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences in the winter semester 2022/2023 and summer semester 2023.

Gallerie

Several roughly brick-sized fragments of red sandstone lie on a red bedrock, probably in the quarry. Grooves on the stones as traces of detachment from the rock.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
2 photos. On the left, red sandstone in the rock of the quarry with rectangular edges from cutting. On the right, red sandstone slabs on the façade of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, here a corner with a rounded edge.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Three black and white photos side by side: all show joints and sealed holes in stone slabs from close up.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Niche at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, clad with square reddish stone slabs. Gloomy.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Several small fragments of red sandstone stacked up like a very small wall.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Large blocks of red sandstone cut out of the rock, two stacked on top of each other.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Two photos. On the left, a block of red sandstone freshly cut from the rock with grooves from cutting. On the right, square slabs of this stone on a house facade. Shadows on it.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Rising red sandstone with a jagged edge in a quarry.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Uniform block of red sandstone on a forklift truck. Presumably in a stone workshop.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Two photos. On the left two small red sandstone pieces leaning against each other, on the right a standing piece and a piece placed on top of it.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Three black and white photos with joints and sealed holes between sandstone slabs. Close-up.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Three upright, small, elongated blocks of red sandstone.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Detail of the façade of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld with square red sandstone slabs and rounded, slightly protruding half-columns.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Detail of a rounded half-column on the façade of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld. A piece of stone was replaced, the replacement is much cleaner and lighter in colour than the surrounding stone slabs.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Three red sandstone blocks about the size of bricks. Two standing upright, a third above them, held horizontally by a hand with a strong hairy arm.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Two photos. On the left, red sandstone in the quarry with relatively smooth edges from cutting, fragments lying in front of it. Right Detail of a niche with semicircular protruding columns made of the same stone on the façade of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Pieces of red sandstone, about the size of a tombstone, freshly loosened from the rock, laid irregularly on top of each other. Behind it larger pieces.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Four small tabular pieces of red sandstone lie on top of each other. In front of them is a cylindrical piece.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
A rough-hewn block of red sandstone. A light green marking line on the vertical edge. In the background a large saw blade with many teeth.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Three black and white photos of joints and sealed holes between stone slabs.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Two photos. Red sandstone on the left with grooves from the removal of other pieces. Black discolouration on the stone. On the right, cuboid stone slabs on the façade of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld with traces of water running down. Wet.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Close-up of a grooved red stone surface. On it, barely visible, the word ‘Kunsthalle’ in light-coloured block letters.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023
Two blocks of red sandstone standing upright next to each other with light discolouration.
Yana Wernicke, Vom Steinbruch zur Kunsthalle - der rote Mainsandstein, 2023