Richard Serra's massive Cor-Ten steel sculpture sits atop a Zollverein slag heap — a 14-metre weathering steel slab that has rusted to the colour of the surrounding industrial landscape over the years since its installation. From a distance it reads as an industrial form; up close, the scale and weight of it become apparent.
The walk up the slag heap to reach it is part of the experience — a five-minute climb that gives increasingly wide views over the Zollverein complex and the surrounding Ruhr cityscape. Serra's work appears throughout the Ruhr as part of the Emscher Landscape Park, a network of industrial heritage sites and art installations that spans the region.