Since Emscherkunst 2010, the joint work »CATCH AS CATCH CAN« by Mischa Kuball and Lawrence Weiner has been in the BernePark in Bottrop. The artwork consists of two parts: the lettering »Catch as catch can«, which Lawrence Weiner placed on the service pavilion of the disused sewage treatment plant, and a light installation in the two clarifiers, for which Mischa Kuball had the idea. Since today, Friday, 17 December 2021, the light artwork has been shining again.
The light and concept artist Mischa Kuball (*1959, lives in Düsseldorf) accentuated the outer edges of the two clarifiers with LED strips. In a moderate rhythm, the light moved as a luminous line around the clarifiers. For technical reasons, the line installation had not been in operation for some time. In the course of the assessment and re-evaluation of the artworks of the Emscherkunstweg, talks with Mischa Kuball for an artistic revision were already started in 2019.
Because no commercially available luminaires can be installed for the artwork, the repair and artistic revision proved difficult. Only after the appropriate technology had been found could the hardware be developed: Each of the 400 luminaires, from the aluminium profile to the Plexiglas housing, was specially produced in close consultation with the artist. Inside each unit are 58 individual LEDs, resulting in an impressive total of 23,200 light-emitting diodes. In addition, all components produced in Germany are designed in such a way that they can be repaired at any time.