Kerstine Bratsch and The High line

Most art exists purely for the eye; it is roped off, guarded from the oil on our fingers, and suffocated by the weight of censored alarms. Kerstine Bratsch created a piece with Franz Mayer of Munich that breaks the barrier between the physical being and the art; this piece is stronger than just visual art. Bratsch, a German artist, bases her work around the exposition of how the human bodies are displayed and perceived psychologically, psychically, physically, and socially. Bratsch created Fossil Psychic Stone Mimicry (Palladiana, Mosaico bench I) as a physical translation of her painting Fossil Psychic (stucco marmo), which portrays the transitional journey of the past into the present. Bratsch took this painting and morphed it into a “stone painting”, creating a mosaic bench that, besides the space surrounding it, was the Highline. The mosaic bench wraps around a planted Green Austrian pine tree, with hopes to encourage visitors and locals to reconnect with the natural world surrounding them. Bratsch aims to shift from the personal to collective experience by frequently working with other artisans, friends, and colleagues. The piece and its placement have acted as a vessel to create a space for people, families, and friends to exist and enjoy the sun, plants, and one another while simultaneously being able to immerse themselves in nature and interact with the “stone painting.”