Belvedere at Lorch Monastery

As a contribution to the architectural project “16 Stations” curated by Jórunn Ragnarsdóttir on the occasion of the Rems Valley Garden Show 2019, Hild und K curated a unique collaborative project in Lorch, in the region of eastern Wuerttenberg. 53 women, one man and a young boy from the town and surrounding parishes lovingly processed approximately 114 kilometres of nylon yarn into individual workpieces, guided and supported by Dionys Ottl and his team. Now, pieced together, they cloak the so called “Luginsland” (belvedere), as a kind of textile intervention for the duration of the gard en show. The historical building on the southern curtain wall of Lorch Monastery most probably served as an outlook point to survey the trade route passing below. For 164 days, the small timber -framed house will now be concealed from immediate view. This, paradoxically, will make it all the more visible for a certain period of time, instead of being taken for granted and therefore being virtually invisible.
The textile drape, with its filigrane texture, was inspired by the neighbouring monastery church. The individual design of the pieces, each in the shape of one of the historical building’s timber -frame infills, was left up to the respective craftsmen and women. In a collaborative event, the patches were pieced together and on 30th April 2019 brought to th eir final destination. The voluntary work united a motley collection of persons and groups from the whole town and neighbouring parishes. Grandmothers and grandchildren, housewives and business women, neighbours from the “Evangelische Heimstiftung”, a charitable trust of Lorch Monastery and members of a local association for Turkish employees crocheted and knitted until their fingertips were sore.
The Rems Valley Garden Show opened on 10th May 2019, and the town of Lorch presented a piece of architecture th at has most probably overruled the alleged boundaries between the apparent and the invisible. This is backed by a social engagement, which in the months prior also succeeded in overcoming the one or the other personal and social boundaries.
We would like to extend our thanks to all involved in this project, in particular to Ms Wanner of the craft shop “Strickliesl” for her great support, to Ms Vetter, who developed a special knitting aid for the project and to the carpentry firm Frey, who, amongst other things, also created the wooden frame for the fitting of this “crocheted dress”.