arch of memory (permanent installation)

The light art installation "Arch of Memory“ by Italian artist Fabrizio Plessi was initially commissioned for the temporary Light Trail of 2000 and sponsored by NORD/LB. Reactivated in 2008, it was modified with a set of lights authorised by the artist. Plessi’s original video installation near what is now the headquarters of the Braunschweig State Savings Bank reconstructed a long since demolished bridge from the year 1844 in front of 'Alter Bahnhof', the city's former main railway station, which once connected the terminus station with the city centre.

Plessi, a long-time resident of Venice, lived up to his billing as the "poet of water“, and was awarded that year’s NORD/LB art prize. In place of the 17 TV monitors that were part of the original version of the "Arch of Memory“ a decade ago, two strings of blue LED lights have been installed within the body of the bridge structure. The combination of a high-tech aesthetic and the sensuality and romance of water as an artistic medium creates a bridge to the far side of the river, but also the history of the city. The artist unites technology and water. Like the physical structure of the piece, the parallel tracks of light represent an attempt to bridge the flow of time with the power of memory in all its forms.

This is the second crossing of the Oker to have received a permanent light installation, after Yvonne Goulbier’s "Evocation in Red“, which was inaugurated at the Jasperallee Bridge in April of 2008.