Nicola Rubinstein: The golden bridge

Lübben liegt am Meer

Building a GOLDEN BRIDGE

“The wind tightens the ribbon drawn across the bridges. The sky grinds on the crossbeams with its darkest blue. On this side and that side our shadows pass each other in the light.”(1)

From personal and family experience, Nicola Rubinstein knows only too well about closed-off bridges. Those that suggest limitations and trying to achieve the unattainable. And those that offer escape to the unknown. She also knows about the bridges that lead the way to the open, to the sea, to an even greater longing. Her major body of work known as Vineta already features figures from the depths of the ocean; these hint at those elusive moments in which air, water , earth, despair and hope meet each other. Lighthouses signal welcomes and farewells.

Bridges and cables—already fragile, show a second horizon that still has to be reached. Fabulous buildings emerge from the seas and tell of times past: neither better nor worse than today. Rubinstein had to transform the bridge to Lubben Castle island. It needed to be gold. It wasn’t just about reaching the other bank, or to avoid getting wet. The green colour of the park was like the blue colour of the sky. The deep blue of the sea spoke of lost gold treasures. We are brought immediately to what brings us together—unbounded— to what unites us. Building a golden bridge—whether you think of a paragraph from the criminal code (2) or an old nursery rhyme (3), doesn’t let the „evil deed“ go by.

Rubinstein’s golden bridge evokes the sea and more: reconciliation, freedom to move, being on the move. With her work for the „Aquamediale 11“ the artist highlights a treasure that is more valuable than all the gold in the world. As with the accompanying exhibition of postcards, she has opened up opportunities for people to build their own bridges, symbolizing peace in the heart of Fortress Europe, ever more entrenched in the face of “a wanderer, who has nothing, who is held by nothing, whose only gift is to see, by a doubtful sea, my chosen land” (4)

Anke Paula Böttcher

Translation: Natasha Beschorner

1 Ingeborg Bachmann: „Die Brücken“, in: dies.: Ausgewählte Werke in drei Bänden, Band 1, Berlin und Weimar 1987, S. 34. 2 Die Goldene-Brücken-Theorie besagt, dass demjenigen Täter eine goldene Brücke zurück in die Legalität gebaut werden müsse, der angesichts der Tat beschließt, von der weiteren Tatausführung abzusehen bzw. die Tatvollendung verhindert. Vgl. § 24 STGB. 3 Die goldne Brücke: "Goldne, goldne Brücke, wer hat sie denn zerbrochen? Der Goldschmied, der Goldschmied, mit seiner jüngsten Tochter. Zieht alle durch, zieht alle durch, den letzten wol'n wir fangen, mit Spießen und mit Stangen." 4 Ingeborg Bachmann: „Böhmen liegt am Meer“, in: dies.: Ausgewählte Werke in drei Bänden, Band 1, Berlin und Weimar 1987, S. 190.

Nicola Rubinstein states that the bridge stands as a transition and connection of three elements: earth, air and water. For the Aquamediale, she made an old bridge golden. It relates to the phrase someone "BUILDING A GOLDEN BRIDGE". This is based on an old war rule, that you can't fight the fleeing enemies, and if necessary build a bridge to retreat. This would provide the opportunity not to lose face. Last year there were 20 wars and 400 armed conflicts, refugee fled, great suffering and impoverishment. Many political and interpersonal conflicts are regarded as irreconcilable. With the golden bridge, the artist creates a powerful symbol of peace through balance. During "Aquamediale" visitors have the possibility to send to another person a postcard to build a personal Golden Bridge.

Petra Schröck