The Hamburg artist Hubert Kiecol has become well known within the German art scene in recent years for his miniature concrete architectural units—houses and stairways. Reducing the sculptural statement to a minimum, they represented a countertendency to the hypertrophic forms in so many contemporary paintings and environmental installations. At the same time, through architecture’s repertory of familiar forms, the works established a connection with the public sphere. But this very connection was also a weakness, for the basic architectural forms, which were given their own autonomous value,