Realisation in 1990 with solar-powered operation;
2008 renovation and conversion to wind power through ASFINAG (the motorway and highway financing company in Austria) with the support of the Austrian Federal Office for the care of monuments (BDA).


Mobile sculpture above the new construction of the Spielfeld freeway border station, spanning 16 lanes of highway.
Rotating forms are integrated into a transparent spatial grid that is equivalent to both countries...

Spielfeld is the name of the border village but also means playing field. The giant sculpture installed across twelve lanes of freeway marks the crossing between Austria and Slovenia. The figure wheels were initially driven by solar-powered motors concealed in the tubes of the steel supporting structure. The solar panels were attached to the roof of the building. In 2008 the sculpture was overhauled and adapted to operate using wind energy. Transparent wings on the figure wheels catch the wind, while centrifugal brakes in the tubes ensure the speed of rotation. The wind chime create a moving, constantly changing image, which also shifts spatially for the viewers as they drive through.The windwheels make reference to the traditional klapotetzes, wooden noisemakers designed to scare away the birds in the vineyards of southern Styria. To keep the wheels in motion, a universal and limitlessly available energy is used, initially that of the sun and since 2008 the energy of the wind, this invisible border crosser. >>>