Gregor Schneider

“A cube is first and only a cube. But a cube can be much more than a cube.”Gregor Scnheider, Cubes

“From the original idea of accurately reproducing the structure of the Ka’ba, the central holy tower of Islam in Mecca, in order to bring one of the most intangible and mysterious—and at the same time most beautiful—buildings of the world closer to the Western public, there developed a completely independent, intangible, and space-determining sculpture—an abstract, black-veiled cube, which is to stand in St. Mark’s Square as an independent body free for all mental associations.”
—Gregor Schneider, Cubes: Art in the Age of Global Terrorism

“Pitch black and 46 feet tall, ‘Cube Hamburg 2007,’ by the German artist Gregor Schneider, is the first work one sees in the current exhibition at the Hamburger Kunsthalle…Mr. Schneider’s slightly smaller Kaaba — though differing entirely in material, weight and function from the original — stands outside the museum…

[Schneider] had been commissioned to build his cube of aluminum scaffolding draped in black muslin for the 2005 Venice Biennale. But his plan to install it in St. Mark’s Square was rejected by city officials, who suggested it might offend or provoke Muslims. He was then invited to construct it at a contemporary art museum in Berlin, only to have the work there halted by a city museum official….”
—The New York Times, 2007