SCULPTURES Michael Höllrigl „fort und fort träumen...“

The human being was the lifelong theme of sculptor and draftsman Michael Höllrigl (1936–2024). His entire oeuvre explores the boundaries of the human body. Even when he appears to be drawing only an abstract arc on paper, one senses the human being beneath it. He tears apart the human body and reassembles it into a whole. He is best known to the general public for his sculptures in public spaces and sacred buildings, such as his most important works—the people's altar in Bolzano Cathedral and his numerous fountains.

Whether in virtually untouched wilderness or charming cultural landscapes, gardens represent a longing for paradise: Tamed nature and unbridled inner worlds meet, perhaps growing together. In a place like the Kränzelhof, characterized by the interplay of nature and culture, the things of nature and the things of art refer to each other in a way that Joseph von Eichendorff's poem “Wünschelrute” (Dowsing Rod) expressed in an immortal line: “A song sleeps in all things, Which dream on and on, ...”

The goal of the sculpture exhibition in 2025 is to let Michael Höllrigl's expressive stone and bronze sculptures at Kränzelhof dream on and on, true to his leitmotif “The hand knows more than the head.”

                                                                                       Heinrich Schwarzer