This exhibition of works by the sculptor Pit Kroke, who lives and works in Berlin and Sardinia, features a selection of pieces from the cycle Ludus architectonicus. On display in an installation in the studio of Aedes am Pfefferberg, these works were produced during the years of urbanistic upheaval experienced by a recently reunited Berlin, and were conceived as a critical commentary on these developments.
Kroke’s small-scale sculptures are functionless architectural games – objects no one would mistake for scale models of buildings envisioned for ultimate realization. In a poetic vision, they constitute an idealized image of a sculptural architecture, forming imaginary connections between the two media. These capriccios – composed of architectural elements and realized in the medium of sculpture – are the works of a independent spirit.
Pit Kroke was born in 1940 in Fürstenwalde / Spree. He studied sculpture in Berlin with Hans Uhlmann at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste. Kroke has also worked with experimental photography and abstract film, and has pursued architectural studies. In 1964, he moved to Sardinia, where he worked initially as an architect. In 1981, he recommenced his purely artistic activities, to which he has devoted his energies exclusively ever since. In 1997, Kroke’s impressive steel sculptures were featured in an outdoor and indoor display at an exhibition at the Aedes East Architecture Forum.
During the exhibition “Sculptural Architecture – Architectonic Sculpture,” which features the most recent works from the cycle, all 55 sculptures will be published in a new book designed by Nico Ott. The accompanying essay was written by Christoph Brockhaus, also the volume’s editor. Brockhaus has followed Pit Kroke’s artistic career from the very beginning. The release of the book Ludus architectonicus coincides with this exhibition.
