"The large-format work impresses with its harmonious forms and, in my view, would be very suitable for setting a striking accent for art in public spaces in Wolfsburg, also as part of an art axis through the center of the city." -__-0000-__- These were the words used by Hans-Joachim Throl, member of Wolfsburg's art advisory council, to describe the proposal to purchase the sculpture Early Forms by British sculptor Tony Cragg in 1997 (Fig. 1). During the debate on the installation of the sculpture, the FDP councillor acted as Cragg's advocate and champion of a new urban model that should be characterized by art and technology.-__-0001-__- Throl recognized great development potential for the city in this field. Cragg's Early Forms group of works, begun in the 1980s, was in line with this basic idea, as it was intended to act as an "intermediate link in an evolution or transformation".-__-0002-__- According to the Art Advisory Board, the Briton was one of the "outstanding image makers of our time".-__-0003-__-

The opportunity to purchase part of the bronze series for the city had to be seized. To illustrate his point, Throl cited a case from Wolfsburg's recent art history. Wolfsburg had already missed the opportunity to purchase world art in the past. The planned acquisition of the sculpture Reclining Figure, No. 2 (1960) by British sculptor Henry Moore was not approved by the administrative committee in 1961. There had been lively public protest against the sculpture.-__-0000-__- Once again, the decision-makers were unsure how the citizens of Wolfsburg would receive the sculpture.-__-0001-__-
In Moore's case, the administrative committee did not follow the recommendation of the culture committee, nor was the committee convinced by the advocacy of sculptor Peter Szaif, a member of the Schloßstraße 8 artists' group, or by an external expert opinion from renowned art critic Will Grohmann. The committee passed up the opportunity to inspect the sculpture in Berlin before voting.
As in the case of Moore, the parties interested in purchasing the work also relied on dialog with the artist at the end of the 1990s. Head of Cultural Affairs Wolfgang Guthardt had previously presented several projects to Cragg when he was in the Volkswagen city. Accompanied by the Basel gallery owners Buchmann Junior and Senior, the group strolled through Wolfsburg's city center. The idea of installing Early Forms at the triangle between the Planetarium, the Scharoun Theater and the newly opened Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg obviously appealed to Cragg, as he informed the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung. This would place the sculpture in the immediate vicinity of two of his works that are part of the Kunstmuseum's collection (Fig. 2).

Meanwhile, the art acquisition project continued to gather pace in the administration: "As a cast of this work is temporarily located in the newly opened sculpture park in Cologne," Tony Cragg suggested "a visit by the Culture Committee so that the committee can get a direct impression of the work on site." -__-0000-__- This drew criticism from the PUG. Parliamentary group leader Sophia Gurgel asked how she was supposed to explain to a homeless person that the city was spending several hundred thousand DM on an art object. Councillor Heinrich Plöger, also a PUG member, condemned the excursion of the culture committee as a "superfluous pleasure trip".-__-0001-__- Head of the culture department Wolfgang Guthardt, on the other hand, judged the visit to be a complete success and forwarded a recommendation to purchase the patinated bronze sculpture to all council committees. In the end, the group around Throl and Guthardt won the renewed "cultural dispute".-__-0002-__- The city council decided to purchase Cragg's sculpture on February 25, 1998. -__-0003-__- The purchase of the sculpture, worth DM 400,000, was partly financed by the city and partly by donations from the public utility company, the energy supplier Land E and the Lüneburg Regional Association.-__-0004-__- The city seized the opportunity to acquire a piece of world art, which was given a worthy place in the city center.