Fraunhofer Institute Stuttgart 2026

reflect

New Technical Center for Bionics and Robotics
of the Fraunhofer Institute Stuttgart (2nd place)

Reflect made of approx. 2700 polished stainless steel half-shells on a colored, structured gradient
acrylic paint, pigment inks, PU aqualacoustic
approx. 49 sq m wall area

The plan was for an installation in the form of an expansive relief on the right corner wall of the foyer in the new Fraunhofer Institute building.

The installation was to consist of two levels:
Level 1: A structured color gradient that begins dark in the corner and appears to dissolve into light at right angles to both sides. This creates a color perspective that extends the spatial boundary of the room's corner into perspective infinity.
Level 2: On this, the highly polished stainless steel hemispheres are mounted, branching out from the room's corner and becoming progressively larger. They form a relief of a surface whose individual components seem to move between chaotic and ordered positioning.

Between the mirrored hemispheres, which endlessly reflect the viewer, the surrounding space, and themselves, the painterly net structure suggests a thicket which, upon mental penetration, points to something unseen beyond.

In exploring the "new building" and its function, we opted for an installation intervention in the unused right-hand corner of the room. This is also the only large wall surface facing outwards. Upon entering or exiting the building, the installation draws the viewer's gaze to the building itself, reflecting the individual a thousandfold within it. The superficial, technical sheen transforms into an enlarged, naturally appearing structure. A perplexing image emerges, blurring the lines between nature and technology, microcosm and macrocosm.

We chose the sphere, or rather the hemisphere, as the module for the installation because it symbolizes the primal form of nature. The sphere is geometrically the ideal form! This applies to both the microcosm and the macrocosm. Ideally, atoms and stars are spheres or at least come very close to this shape. According to the equivalence principle, nature constantly strives to achieve balance, equilibrium, a state requiring the least or minimal energy. It strives for relaxation, if you will. This state most often manifests itself in seemingly disordered chaos.

The organic, asymmetrical arrangement of the hemispheres in the relief embodies this fundamental natural principle. At the same time, it represents the individual, the non-technically reproducible.

In their arrangement, the hemispheres are reminiscent of, for example, water droplets beading on a lotus leaf, an enlarged reptile skin, or even endless molecular chains – endlessly reflecting themselves and the surrounding space. Viewed individually, however, the hemispheres reveal themselves to be highly technical artifacts, whose individual manual manufacturing processes are hinted at upon closer inspection (each sphere is hand-polished and individually positioned). The subtle, underlying painting also seems to transform organic network structures into manual or technical manufacturing processes. Time, as an essential factor in all developmental and evolutionary processes – in nature as well as in technology – is thus also made visually tangible.

Moreover, the approximately 2,700 mirrors play with the limits of perception—with infinity. We are interested in creating something visually stunning with simple means. The work, in its apparent mirror symmetry, symbolically represents the two scientific disciplines of bionics and robotics, and its location connects both fields of research centrally in the shared link, the stairwell.

Heike Weber and Walter Eul, 2016