NEURONENBESCHLEUNIGER ("NEURON ACCELERATOR") - Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin-Adlershof- to be realized in April 2025.

 

 




Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin-Adlershof

- 1st price in international public art competition -  to be realized in April 2025

Idea:

Nobel Prize winner in economics Daniel Kahnemann makes a clear distinction between two speeds of thought: Fast, intuitive thinking ideally complements slow, scientific thinking, which is characterized by statistics. In social, group-dynamic situations in particular, we like to rely on fast thinking, which tends to be influenced by emotions.

The artwork NEURONENBESCHLEUNIGER (NEURON ACCELERATOR) aims to tap into this potential of intuition and the rapid flow of ideas in a new way. It will propose a dynamically shaped ring sculpture that offers the spatial and symbolic framework for a new kind of communal ritual at HZB:

What if top researchers could simply meet here informally and as if by chance to brainstorm? If it wasn't embarrassing or inappropriate to ask for new connections and ideas? If it were possible to talk to each other in a low-threshold way and come up with new solutions more quickly?

The participants in these open, spontaneous and creative situations become part of a “social sculpture” in the sense of Joseph Beuys' expanded concept of art.  The NEURONENBESCHLEUNIGER also symbolically generates space for this:

Through the shape of the ring, it embodies the community of researchers and also establishes a reference to the giant circular particle accelerator Bessy II in terms of content. The HZB and Bessy  are getting a work of art with a high potential for interaction and identification.

Place Making:  
The NEURONENBESCHLEUNIGER (NEURON ACCELERATOR) takes up its position at the side in front of the entrance. It is precisely inscribed in the existing  distinctive yellow brick pattern of the exterieur design. The underground pipeline is not built over and the escape routes are not obstructed. Thanks to its dimensions, which have been further developed compared to the first competition idea, the neuron accelerator unfolds its full potential here to accentuate and enliven the entrance square.
The dynamic ring shape looks like a snapshot of an abstract acceleration process. Its all-visible all-round sculptural quality, created on the 2d computer screen, was tested and it's dynamic qualities were confirmed using a 3D-printed working model.
 

CONSTRUCTION made of high-performance concrete:


- Self-compacting and colored white
- W x D x H: approx. 7.25 m x 7.25 m x 1.25 m
- The CAD model is digitally optimized and 3D-printed as a lost casting mould directly from moulding sand.
- Surface: sandblasted, hydrophobized and impregnated.
- The concrete is dyed through in white pigment. In a matt, shiny warm greyish white, the NEURONENBESCHLEUNIGER creates a deliberate contrast to the rough and gray concrete surfaces of the existing building.
- The hand pattern conveys a sense of the feel and the elegant, almost ceramic quality of the high-performance concrete.

Extremely durable: concrete is at its best when it lives and is allowed to naturally grow older. A natural patina then develops over time. We apply an impregnate to the artwork in the studio. (This primarily serves to protect against algae.)