Baden-Württemberg: transformer house "Ompa" speaks to passers-by

A student takes part in an art competition for a sculpture trail - and wins.

Baden-Württemberg: transformer house "Ompa" speaks to passers-by

A student takes part in an art competition for a sculpture trail - and wins. Your transformer house project is a real eye-catcher. But not only that.

Pfinztal (dpa/lsw) - A student and media artist from Karlsruhe has given an old transformer house in Pfinztal (Karlsruhe district) new life with color and technology and has been surprising passers-by ever since. "The children were super curious from the start," said Luise Peschko of the German Press Agency. Between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., a motion detector triggers the playing of short sound sequences such as small poems and sayings. "Three clouds in the sky, what's that supposed to mean?" the transformer house then asks, for example, and perhaps stimulates thought. Sometimes it laughs, sometimes it coughs.

One piece is played from around 90 tracks in no particular order. The texts were spoken by her mother, said Peschko. The voice can be heard deeper and slightly distorted.

The 28-year-old christened the transformer house, which now has a face, with the name "Ompa" - based on grandma and grandpa. The consideration was what purpose the building used to have, said Peschko. "It powered the whole village. The power lines connected everyone." After the transformer house was taken out of service, it was no longer useful. Some would have found it annoying. "That can be transferred to society," said Peschko.

"Ompa" is the result of a competition for the Pfinztal Sculpture Trail. With a seminar on promenadology - walk science - students of the Karlsruhe State University for Design were in Pfinztal and came across the advertisement, reported Peschko. She was the only seminar participant who took part - and won. In June she painted the transformer house, paint and scaffolding were provided. In July, "Ompa" was presented at a vernissage.

The trained event technician is in her fifth semester at the university. She works a lot with sound, video and performance, said Peschko. In any case, she does not want to commit herself to a specific direction at the moment. "I like to combine."