High above the Schloßbergplatz, above all traffic and passers-by heading for the city centre, a large ring of colour hovers sedately, combining the blue hues of the sky. Swiss naturalist Horace Bénédict de Saussure developed the cyanometer, originally just larger than the palm of the hand, in the 18th century in order to draw conclusions about the make-up of the atmosphere and to gather meteorological knowledge by comparing the intensity of colours. Alexander von Humboldt made the colour circle widely known through his explorations of America.
The circular colour chart in Graz, in contrast, measures almost fifteen metres in diameter. Fifty-three sections of colour range from whitish grey through shades of Prussian blue to black. Looking up through the open ring allows the viewer to identify identical colour segments so as to determine the colour of the sky, that varies depending on humidity, time of day, incidence of light, and environmental influences. At the same time, devoid of any practical use or possible significance in terms of colour and balanced quietly over the river Mur, the spectacular aerial object resembles a ring of sky.
Johannes Vogl, born in Kaufbeuren/Allgäu in 1981, lives in Berlin.
