Tonus

Tonus is a sculpture by the Japanese artist Kazuo Katase at the University Medical Center in Freiburg im Breisgau. Katase created this work during the year 1995. Its upright form stands on a slope beside a wedge that appears to prevent movement. Bright yellow and black paint covers the massive steel ring. The installation presents three elements: that ring, a rusted Corten-steel wedge, and two granite forms. The massive circular form weighs thirty-two tonnes. The fifteen-metre diameter spans the surrounding sloping setting.

Each granite form measures one metre in diameter. One carries a carved star, while the other receives and releases water. The arrangement gives physical form to balance, tension, and contrasting forces. Katase’s design echoes Yin and Yang through opposing colours, activity, and rest. The placement between the Neurocenter and the Women’s Clinic connects those contrasts with life and medicine. The star-marked sphere stands beside the half-sphere that receives and releases water.