Montalcino Fortress Velodrome Olaf Metzel, 1998

Olaf Metzel chose the fortress of Montalcino for his intervention for Arte all’Arte III, under the invitation and curatorship of Florian Matzner and Angela Vettese.

"By placing medieval military architecture in direct comparison—both aesthetically and topographically—with contemporary sports architecture, Metzel references an important historical aspect by drawing attention to the existing connection between sport and war. Olaf Metzel’s sculpture is therefore an intervention that encapsulates many of the most significant aspects of 1990s art: contextuality, references to place and its history; a formal aesthetic dialogue between past and present; accessibility of the work as an offering from the artist to the viewer; and engagement with current issues such as the question of public cultural policy. Metzel’s Velodrome represents the circuit of relationships operating on various levels—on one hand, between the environment, the autonomy of the artwork, and its connection to its exhibition site within public space; and on the other, between the artist, the organizer, the viewer, and the sponsors."

Angela Vettese, Arte all’Arte III, 1998