With his artwork, Helmut Dick has declared the former weighbridge building in Stainz a branch of the Stainz Natural History Museum. For this purpose, he exhibited a taxidermied giraffe there. Since the animal is too large for the house, Dick built an extra dormer window for its head. From below, one can look up at its long neck, which fits almost headspinning into the narrow height.
Dick has thus created a space that inspires conversation. His sculptural intervention is eye-catching and invites to reflect: Why is there an exotic giraffe in the middle of Stainz? How did the animal get there? Who had the idea and why?
The work was created together with young people from the jung.kultur.haus FRIDA. After extensive walks through the market town, Dick made three suggestions. The young people chose the absurd giraffe as the project they wanted to realize. The artwork also demonstrates youthful energy and the desire for fresh ideas for Stainz that push boundaries and overcome obstacles.
The many questions and discussions were probably also the reason why local residents – against the artist's wishes – added a window to the dormer. Now, the giraffe appears to be looking down on the people passing by. The small building is now a bus shelter, where mostly young people wait for the bus that takes them to school, to Graz, or elsewhere.
There is no proper natural history museum in Stainz. In Stainz Castle, the Hunting Museum of the Universalmuseum Joanneum displays, among other things, taxidermied animals, but only native animals. If one considers the "Naturmuseum Stainz – Außenstelle" as its outpost, the giraffe expands the spectrum of Stainz's collection. The strange animal was not hunted in the forest, but made of plastic, a second-hand purchase, and came as an online order from the Netherlands.
This curious work was created in 2009 as part of the "Freizeichen" project with young people from Stainz: Martina Erhart, Jutta Güttinger, Daniel Karner, Patricia Knaus, Florian Landsteiner, Thomas Lehner, Phillip Martinac, Markus Ortner, Stefan Reinisch, Marc Reinmayer, Edi Ruhhüttl, Matthias Staber, Anna Steiner, Johannes Stelzl and Martin Wild.
Thanks to: Christine Steirer and Holger Unterweger (jung.kultur.haus FRIDA), Mayor Walter Eichmann
With support from: Styrian Youth Office, KulturKontakt Austria, and the Municipality of Stainz
