​Ralf Sander - Artist

• I have developed a sculpture of a girl that becomes a bird trough the viewers movement.It is influenced by the "Birdgirl": The "birdgirl" is one of the most powerful symbols in James Joyce's “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” because she serves as an epiphany to Steven Daedalus. ''A girl stood before him in midstream, alone and still, gazing out to sea. She seemed like one whom magic had changed into the likeness of a strange and beautiful seabird”. This passage inspired me to create the Lady-Bird- Transformation for the Busan International Film Center.
   

• Mirage or Lady Bird Transformation is the largest commission in Korea that was secured by a non-Korean in an open and anonymous competition.

Usually larger stainless steel sculptures such as e.g. the cloud by Anish Kapoor are made of pressed (forged) metal sheets on a construction.

In favor of the quality, and because of the complexity of the sculptural shape, we decided to cast and not forge the object. It was a great sculptural and technical challenge.

• According to the Kung Ahn Misul factory, this is the largest cast stainless sculpture ever made.

• The methods we could develop in Korea enabled me to finish the Belfast Seahorse project, which will be erected in August 2013.

·        

The sculpture has already become an iconic symbol for the city. Busan is South Korea's second largest city and largest seaport. It is announced as one of the attractions of Korea in e.g. Tripadvisor and other travel guides.

 

In cinema the morphing process is well known but a sculpture was never made in this form. As our budget was limited, it would have been impossible to make and cast the sculpture in the traditional way, we had to reduce time and material use during the making process. Also there was a question if sculpture can sustain in an architectural context that is already sculptural.