ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS about sound sculptor Gerhard Trimpin and his new work “Der Ring 3” (The Ring to the Power of Three)… After thinking about this idea for nearly four decades Trimpin has produced a sculpture that derives from a perpetual motion display he saw in the window of a hardware store when he was a teen-ager The piece was commissioned for a new science center in Wolfsburg is called Phaeno… “Der Ring” looks like a huge mobile with three tiers Each tier consists of three glitter-flecked royal-blue aluminum rings with a brushed-aluminum sphere that rolls along the bottom two rings its actions controlled by a complex choreography of cables Describes Trimpin supervising the installation of the piece in the science center… Trimpin grew up in the small town of Efringen-Kirchen As a child he directed most of his attention to music playing the flugelhorn and other instruments He also experimented with early sound sculptures such as a composition that made use of the town's old tube radios Compares him to other avant-garde artists such as Jean Tinguely He moved to Berlin and began building hybrid musical instruments… Trimpin works twelve hours a day He creates most of his pieces from scratch His sound sculptures have appeared all over the world They earned him a MacArthur “genius” award in 1997 Trimpin's best-known piece is probably the forty-foot tower made of nearly seven hundred guitars at Seattle's Experience Music Project… Writer visits Trimpin in his studio in Seattle to see a model of “Der Ring.” He sees the sculpture as a physical metaphor of the way sound works The ratio of the rings-3:4:5-represents a major triad a chord that is the basis of all Western music and harmony “This is the most important sound piece I've done and it's almost silent,” Trimpin said on the final day of piece's intallation View Article Switzerland has become a transit country for migrants is doing its duty according to regulations and is powerless in spite of a legal trick Insights into the absurdities at European borders This is revealed by the bracelet on his wrist It's only a few hours since German police officers made the discovery Now they’re standing in front of Adib in a hall at the station with serious looks and hands clasped in front of their hips Adib still won’t reach Germany this evening he'll get caught in the mills of the police administrative apparatus in the German village of Efringen-Kirchen Then he’ll be handed over to Swiss authorities – as he was today at noon Because more and more people like Adib are trying to reach Germany from Switzerland the border crossing in Basel is in the spotlight of asylum and migration policy Switzerland has become a transit country for migrants who But something else is becoming clear at the border triangle: the absurd consequences of European asylum and migration policy It’s only a few kilometers to Basel from the center of the German community of Efringen-Kirchen The Rhine separates the town from its French neighbors the border triangle is a patch of land where borders blur eventually disappearing completely from people's minds and being forgotten who carry out their inspection on the outskirts of Efringen-Kirchen On the cobblestones in front of the police station where the officers' cars are usually parked a dozen tents have been standing for several weeks On this cold Wednesday evening generators are blowing warm air into them and they can be seen from a distance due to the lighting While the new arrivals are being searched in the tents the officers doing the inspection enter names age and citizenship into an Excel spreadsheet A beamer projects the details onto a large wall a few meters away from the desks «Afghanistan» is written by police officers in the country of origin column with particular frequency Even the place where they've picked up the migrants is noted by officials: ICE S-Bahn or on the bus; before or after the border – everything is neatly listed It seems clear to everyone that those tabulated here will cross the border at some point Preventing this isn’t a personal goal either says one of the police officers who has been checking trains between Switzerland and Germany for weeks The officer also doesn’t hide the fact that he’d rather be doing something else: «I'm a police officer he and his Swiss colleagues were searching for people who were wanted on arrest warrants Due to the increasing number of migrants who want to travel to Germany via Switzerland a «processing line» of tents was hastily installed last fall on the German side Riot police from all over Germany were also ordered to the border triangle to somehow reduce illegal entries into Germany or at least identify those who crossed the border the vast majority of migrants still cross the border unnoticed Around two-thirds of the illegal entrants who came to Germany in 2022 had never previously been registered in any other European state – neither in the immediate neighboring states such as Austria Swiss authorities are also taking a half-hearted approach to checks on migrants most of whom want to enter from Austria and travel on to Germany Because many migrants don’t stay in Switzerland permanently and don’t apply for asylum they often only get a piece of paper after being checked; «expulsion» is written on it in big letters It is the beginning of a cat-and-mouse game and officers are pulling gloves out of their trouser pockets Migrants can often be recognized by their clothing spokeswoman for the Weil am Rhein federal police station who is accompanying the checks on the ICE 4 train to Frankfurt am Main today a few hundred meters often decide the future Those who are intercepted before the border are handed back to the Swiss by German officials after a few hours Anyone they pick up on German soil is allowed to apply for asylum in Germany and is transferred by officials in Efringen-Kirchen to the responsible immigration office As soon as the doors of the ICE 4 close and the cars start moving the check begins – there are only a few minutes now left before the ICE will reach Basel Badischer Station it is geographically located in Switzerland and the short trip is the last chance to stop migrants before they reach Germany Migrants without a residence permit who are on this train are automatically guilty of attempting to cross the border illegally – even if they can’t be shown to be planning to enter Germany Each wagon is searched by at least two of the nearly twenty police officers in black overalls Those who fit the profile have to show their documents After an initial brief check at Baden train station they are brought in vans to the tent village in Efringen-Kirchen – across the customs station and the German-Swiss border Because Adib was caught before he actually crossed the border The trip to Efringen-Kirchen into German territory doesn’t change anything A legal clause from 2018 is responsible for this: border crossings in the course of a police check do not count as entry The right to asylum is denied; this is regulated by the «fiction of non-entry.» in the «processing line» in Efringen-Kirchen search; and officials take fingerprints and try to get the most important information the federal police are prepared: Information leaflets in different languages are intended to help A civil servant is talking with difficulty to an Afghan who doesn't understand a word: «You know She wants to apply for asylum for herself and her children where she sits slumped on a wooden chair – but the policeman interrupts her the police administrative apparatus seems like a well-oiled machine that simply continues to do its job despite all the disruptions «That's just our job,» says one of the officers The scope of action of German officials on Swiss territory has been extended several times in recent years There have been agreements on several occasions The service of the Federal Police is regulated It is unclear whether officials are concerned about the world's crises famines and the effects of Europe's chaotic asylum and migration policies that govern almost every step of their work Kessler says she is personally concerned about the political situation «But we can't influence what happens at the political level.» In a few minutes Adib will also arrive at the tent village in Efringen-Kirchen Given that he was already there some hours ago presumably also the conversation with officers – that won’t be needed Due to «fiction of non-entry,» Adib won’t be able to apply for asylum in Germany It remains unclear whether he understands why things are going nowhere for him whether he is now seeking asylum in Switzerland after all It's also unclear where he'll sleep for the approaching night He and other migrants from Efringen-Kirchen are driven back to Basel's main train station in the police van Swiss officials are already waiting for them there with a note «Directions» is written on the white A4 page Many migrants immediately try to cross the border again Probably Adib and the others will try again informative Führung mit der Stadtführerin Rena Hadji-Cheykh / Pracht im Grünen Zu einem Spaziergang auf dem Regio-Kunstweg hatte Stadtführerin Rena Hadji-Cheykh eingeladen Der Weg war seinerzeit anlässlich der Landesgartenschau „Grün 99” als Symbol für die grenzüberschreitende Verknüpfung der Naherholungsgebiete angelegt worden der von Fußgängern und Radfahrern sehr rege genutzt wird führt von der Trinkwasseraufbereitungsanlage der Stadt Basel durch die Langen Erlen über den Wiesefluss und quer durchs Mattfeld bis zum „Platz der drei Länder” im Dreiländergarten in Weil am Rhein Vorbei an Feldern und Wiesen voller Wildblumen und Gräser im wärmenden Schein der Nachmittagssonne und begleitet vom Zwitschern der Vögel und dem Zirpen der Grillen später dann durch schattige Waldstücke und über die Brücke der Wiese marschierten die Teilnehmer eine Strecke von insgesamt gut fünf Kilometern die von deutschen und schweizerischen Künstlern geschaffen wurden legte die Gruppe stets einen kleinen Halt ein und Rena Hadji-Cheykh berichtete über die Herkunft und künstlerische Symbolik der Werke Die drei geschichteten „Trias”-Ziegeltürme von Reiner Seliger die den Mittelpunkt des Dreilandes markieren fügen sich harmonisch ins Landschaftsbild ein Dass die Spitzen der Türme mittlerweile von Pflanzen überwuchert werden ist dabei gewollter Teil des Konzeptes von Landart Der Zahn der Zeit indes nagt ungewollt am Würfel „Im Glück” von Stefan Hösl an dessen Fensteröffnungen zum Teil die Glasscheiben fehlen oder beschädigt sind Ein paar Schritte weiter dann eine grüne Pracht im Grünen: Barbara Meyer und Markus Gadient kreierten bereits zehn Jahre vor der Landesgartenschau den Grundstock für das „Haingedicht” eine Pflanzung in Anlehnung an das irisch-keltische Baumalphabet Die spiralförmig um einen Quellstein angeordneten Bäume und Sträucher stehen für den Satz „Ich bin der Baum und zugleich das Kind fünf Meter lange und drei Meter hohe Wandscheibe im Mattfeld Yves Trump und Barbara Köhler geschaffen wurde und den einladenden Titel „Vorübergehend Platz nehmen war das letzte Kunstwerk auf der deutschen Seite des Regio-Kunstwegs An dieser Stelle zeigte sich das Resultat mangelnder Pflege zum einen Die davor stehende sieben Meter lange Sitzbank war kaum mehr auszumachen und fast komplett zugewachsen und das Kunstwerk selbst größtenteils mit wilden Graffiti beschmiert Auf Schweizer Seite im Gebiet Lange Erlen gegenüber des Gebäudes in dem die Aufbereitungsanlage für Trinkwasser der Stadt Basel untergebracht ist lenkt die Eisenskulptur mit dem Titel „Amenocal” von Paul Suter den Blick von Spaziergängern auf sich und ist gleichzeitig der Anfangspunkt des Regio-Kunstwegs im Nachbarland aber regelmäßige Begleiter sind indes die Betonwürfel die auf beiden Seiten der Grenze immer wieder am Wegrand platziert sind und auf denen alemannische Ausdrücke für menschliche Charaktereigenschaften eingeritzt sind bereitete den Teilnehmern der Führung auf dem Rückweg viel Spaß und war dazu noch mit so mancher Erinnerung verbunden Präsident Donald Trump hat die US-Militärhilfen ausgesetzt bis der ukrainische Präsident Wolodymyr Selenskyj „den Fokus auf Frieden“ legt