Kathrin Schlegel is a German installation and visual artist creating research-based, site-specific, and conceptual works exhibited internationally. Her projects explore spatial perception, human experience, and site-specific narratives.
Save Our Souls
2013, insertion, reinstating the former discarded cross and adding a light sign on the roof of the deconsecrated Holy Trinity church in Münster, 67 cm x 39 cm x 8 cm, stainless steel sheathing with grey powder coating, white Perspex front cover, energy-saving white LED light. Self-initiated permanent intervention in public space with the support of Kunststiftung NRW, Wohn- und Stadtbau Münster, Kunsthalle Münster, the cultural office of the city of Münster and Pastor Frings.

Shifting social and cultural needs in Western society have led to the deconsecration of several churches, including the Holy Trinity church at the Grevener Strasse/ York-Ring intersection in the Diocese of Münster. The buildings on this busy intersection serve as an allegory of our society: the fire department and rescue centre save lives in a physical sense (SOS/Save Our Souls). The Lincoln Center, a department store complex with the gigantic logo of the Saturn electronics department store atop, lures people into the consumerist temples of our days. The Holy Trinity church remains no more than a stone shell, bereft of its function as spiritual and ethical guide. For Save Our Souls Kathrin Schlegel rescued the discarded iron cross, attached a ring of light to it, like an aureole, and reinstated the cross on the church’s rooftop. The ring mirrors the planetary ring of the logo of the electronics giant Saturn which shines on the consumption temple across the road. With this subtly staged confluence of past and present, Save Our Souls invites reflection upon contemporary culture and shifting existential needs.






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Frauen und Kinder zuerst

Updated 05.01.26