Luxembourg x Luxembourg
Danielle Wagner wanted to focus on the idea of the connection between people who have differences and what they can do together. Her inspiration for most of her pieces comes from art history and looking towards the future. Her piece for the exhibition, Luxembourg x Luxembourg, is comprised of two L-shaped pieces of cor-ten steel, that, when put together, created a unified rectangular shape. One of the two pieces has a smooth, continuous surface, while the other half is rough and texturized. These halves are to represent the rich, perfect world and the poor, imperfect world, respectively. The two halves can also be interpreted as the poor world being one that is culturally poor and uniform, while the poor world is one of cultural diversity and dimension. The combination of these two concepts in the form of one shape is made to embody the idea of unity and strength amongst a community.
Donated to Miami University by the Luxembourg Ministry of Culture in 2002, this piece is now located on the western side of MacMillan Hall, which houses the Center for American and World Cultures. This piece, slightly set back from the sidewalk of Spring Street and within sight of Miami’s iconic sculpture of the Tri-Delt Sundial (nicknamed so because of its donors, the Delta Delta Delta sorority), fits right in due to the concepts hidden within it and the strategic location next to the building that functions as a place for cultures to combine, just like the two halves of Wagner’s sculpture.
As one of the artists commissioned for the 2001 exhibit Connecting Worlds: Contemporary Sculpture from the European Union, Wagner was one of 30 artists from the 15 countries of the European Union—two artists per country—chosen to represent their country. The original exhibit, lasting 2 months from April to June, was located at the Kennedy Center’s Roof Terrace; this being the first time the terrace was used as a location for an exhibit.
The location of this exhibition, the Kennedy Center, was chosen because of John F. Kennedy’s dream of creating a world cultural center. This was, and is, a place where thousands of people from all over the world have come to experience the arts in a way where nationality and other worldly boundaries no longer exist.