Manfred Kielnhover’s sitting variations on his “Guardians of Time” emphasize the power assigned them within the scope of his artistic concept even more than those squatting meditatively on the ground. The Shelf Sitters are life size and therefore confront the beholder as stern observers of human proportions eye to eye. The most spectacular appearance of this sitting variation on the Guardians, by the way, was at the 25th anniversary celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall. On this occasion, the sculptures “occupied” the remaining bits of the Berlin Wall in Friedrichshain, which was designed by various contemporary artists and is internationally known as the “East Side Gallery”. Their warning to the cheering, revelling visitors: The Wall may have vanished everywhere else, but your responsibility for past and future has not.

Edition in bronze, cast using the lost wax technique, chased and patinated by hand.