IRONBLOOM for Vifor Pharma 2021

  • Art and Buildings

IRONBLOOM for Vifor Pharma 2021

2020 Competition winner Sabeth Holland with her installation in nine parts for the new administration building in St. Gallen. – IRONBLOOM reflects the history of Vifor Pharma, depicts the location in the Sitter Valley with its connections to the city of St. Gallen, the nearby Alpstein Mountains and the Lake of Constance. There are aspects that illustrate the members of the team, the patients and business partners and puts Vifor Pharma’s main products, clever and effective medicines made of iron, into a constellation for a bright future. The artist uses the gold to honour inspiration and magic moments that are essential in research, in the discovery of new strategies and are constantly part of a great and successful team.

Find PDFs, links, photos, films and more information. There is also an inspiring comment by the head of the art team of Vifor Pharma, Monica N. Epper and a short summery by the artist herself.

Die drei PDFs unterhalb in Deutsch:

www.viforpharma.ch – Deutsch
www.viforpharma.ch – English
www.viforpharma.ch – Français

Plan with sketch, building site in 2020, photographic sketch for the competition and finished room installation:

The 6 wall objects and the 3 hanging stars with their details below:

Materials: Steal, iron mesh and wire, aluminium, plaster, mortar, acrylics, pigments (iron oxide), 22 carat gold, glitter, stardust and small pieces of mirror glass.

IROONBLOOM, the finished installation in nine parts:

The nine objects of IRONBLOOM are connecting the entrance hall, the conference rooms, the cafeteria Viforia, the office zone of the first floor and the pateo area outdoors by the natural pond. The main wall object in the shape of a giant flower, or rose, with a diameter of 120 cm, depicts the locality of Vifor Pharma St. Gallen with the river, forest, mountains and more. You can even detect the Rechensteg, the nearby hanging bridge. This giant floral object appears in shades of waterblue leading towards the pond and in iron red towards the center of the production buildings.

The deep yellow butterfly (film below) leads the visitor towards the installation and sybolizes transformation or metamorphosis. The smaller second rose can also be seen as a deep pink water lily or a drop of medical liquid, even blood. The strawberry may as well be an apple or any other sort of fruit and interlinks the fruit trees and wild strawberries that are surrounding the pateo zone and where planted in spring by members of the team. The rabbit is held in a variety of shades of green wants for an association with a green leaf as such. It leads to the cafetria, were the herbs that grow by the pond, are integrated into the fresh cuisine. On the way to the first floor you find the blue owl that quietly guards the building, the art installation and the team even at night. The owl also stands for wisdom and hard brainwork that comes with conferrences and meetings, science and innovation.

The three hanging stars are mobile and turn slowly in the gentle draft, that flows through the spaciously tall and airy rooms. Together with the elegant oval shaped lights they create a form of a sky, or universe, and by that round off this consize work of art as a constellation into a bright future.

Final comment for Vifor Pharma, August 10, 2021:

Sabeth Holland won the art competition for the new office building at the St. Gallen site. Six artists from the St. Gallen region were invited in 2020. All had the same criteria to artistically represent the company Vifor Pharma, patients/employees, the values as well as the dynamics. The Art Commission, under the expert guidance of Monica N. Epper, selected the artworks and objects to be assessed. Members of the commission were Hans-Martin Müller, Manuel Senn, Roman Bauer, Katharina Heim, Brigitte Gans, Monika Schmitter, Bettina Hofstetter and Markus Wyss.

Sabeth Holland was unanimously elected with the overall installation IRONBLOOM. She captured the location of Vifor Pharma in the Sittertobel and the peninsula with the company dynamics, the values, the products as well as the uniqueness depicted in the nine objects, hanging at the wall and from the ceiling.

Let yourself be enchanted by the colourfulness of the three-dimensional works of art – a strong creative impression as a homage to the success story of Vifor Pharma.

Monica N. Epper, August 2021

Sabeth Holland when finalising her installation, August 10, 2021:

IRONBLOOM is now finished. Its start was set more than a year ago and the finalising phase filled up the last 20 months. – I can see that the finished artwork comes close to my first sketches and ideas, but I feel its radiance, inner power and visiual appeal overcomes everything that I ever created. In its dimensions, weight and quality IRONBLOOM is a really monumental installation. There are hundreds of hours that I spent all be myself in my atelier for sculpting (film below) and later in my second atelier, where I paint, only.
When I had won the competition last autumn I was overjoyed, but then being given all the time that I needed to complete the whole, I was even more touched. I feel that new ideas, techniques and also the created shapes come with extra depth when there is plenty of time for contemplation, thought and thoroughly solid work made by my hands. I always kept my original concept mind but gave space to the new and surprising.

I was overwhelmed by the positive vibes and motivating contributions that came from the Vifor Pharma team. I met and got to know really amazing personalities full of kindness, professionality and competence that gave me the feeling that they all and the entire team deserve an homage of a special kind. In the quietness of my studios I created hints, symbols and images that are all dedicated to my many friends at Vifor Pharma.

With profound gratitude I would like to thank you all for allowing me to recover from my accident, that put a sudden halt to the process in the winter months. You all contributed quite a bit to my healing and inner strength. My thanks come from my heart with a warm embrace and the very best wishes for you all and now your IRONBLOOM. May it become your inspiration as you were mine.

Film: Sabeth Holland explaining the first works in progress.

Back To Top
a

Display your work in a bold & confident manner. Sometimes it’s easy for your creativity to stand out from the crowd.

Social