Tree of the Wind Harp

This kinetic sculpture by Lubo Kristek responds to the surrounding environment by sounds. Kristek used a fragment of a piano and combined it with iron tears to create a wind propelled assemblage. The visitor is also invited to play this unique instrument. In 2006, the artist created the sculptural pilgrims’ way called the Kristek Thaya Glyptotheque and placed this artwork by the Chateau Pohansko (near Břeclav). This musical artwork references the original inhabitants of Pohansko with its stringed fragment. Pilgrims often bring flowers to the sculpture.
Barbora Půtová (Charles University) wrote: ‘Kristek’s craft skill is employed to the greatest extent in metal sculptures, where he utilises his perfect mastery of the technique of the German artist Max Doerner (1870–1939). Just like a medieval artist, Kristek personally welds, grinds and carves his sculptures. From many aspects his free-standing sculptures represent a surreal parallel with the paintings of the Czech painter Mikuláš Medek, the German painter Max Ernst and the Spanish painter Salvador Dalí. This is documented in particular by Kristek’s metal sculptures Monument to the Five Senses (1991) and Tree of the Wind Harp (1992). In dreamlike and fantasy themes, Kristek puts the creative aspect of a Freudian world of unconscious and concrete irrationality into direct opposition with the one-sided, rational, usual and conventional world.’