Circus horses, always a dream of mine

History of the work

On the lawn between the buildings at Tiefenaustrasse 108 and 110 stands a chrome-steel sculpture with the long title 'Circuspferde, waren schon immer ein Traum für mich' (Circus horses were always a dream of mine). Willy Weber made it in 1971. As with his other 'explosion sculptures', the steel was shaped with explosives; the chromed surface reflects its surroundings.

The site belongs to the former Tiefenau hospital. It was founded in 1913 as the city's second hospital alongside the Ziegler hospital, became part of the then hospital group in 2007 and of the Insel Gruppe in 2016; hospital operations ended on 15 December 2023. The city's building inventory describes the two neighbouring buildings: the staff wing no. 110 from 1964 and a smaller annex no. 108, both built by the architects Dubach & Gloor for the municipality. They stand in an open green space with single trees south-west of the main building.

Weber was born in Bern on 16 June 1933 and died in Boll-Sinneringen on 11 May 1998. He grew up in Muri, trained in commerce, spent a year in Algeria and then taught himself to paint. According to SIKART, his first explosion sculptures date from 1962. From 1968 he worked with polished chrome steel; Wikipedia dates the chroming to as early as 1967. Harald Szeemann showed him several times at the Kunsthalle Bern in the 1960s; in 1969 Weber represented Switzerland at the São Paulo Biennial and in 1972 at the Venice Biennale. In 1971, the year this sculpture was made, the Swiss Confederation gave his large chrome-steel relief 'Apollo X' to the Kennedy Center in Washington.

SIKART describes how precisely Weber measured the charges on the front and back of the plates, so that bulges and openings became predictable. The mirroring was meant to let viewers see their own movements in the work. On site it is therefore worth walking around the sculpture and following your own reflection across the dents.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Willy Weber (Künstler) · SIKART: Willy Weber · Wikipedia (de): Tiefenauspital · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Tiefenaustrasse 110