Hammering Man
Encyclopedia
Hammering Man is a series of monumental kinetic sculptures designed by Jonathan Borofsky
which have been installed in various cities around the world
.
The first Hammering Man is 21 metres tall and was commissioned in 1990, for the new Messeturm (exhibition tower) building at the Frankfurt Trade Fair
. (50°06′45"N 8°39′10"E)
Also in the same city was an unofficial 6 ft tall copy of the Hammering Man in the Hülya-Platz (in the district Bockenheim
, 50°7′25.29"N 8°38′23.00"E) where the hammer, which could be moved with a hand crank, demolished a swastika
.
The sculpture was donated by a citizen's group against neo-nazism
to commemorate the Solingen arson attack of 1993
. The sculpture was often vandalised and in April 2007 it was demounted and scrapped after becoming so badly damaged and corroded that it was considered a danger for public safety.
The sculpture has since been replaced by a successor.
(47°36′25.31"N 122°20′17.20"W) and made out of hollow-fabricated steel with a mechanized arm of aluminum, an electric motor and flat black automotive paint. He was built in 1992 at a cost of $450,000. Original funding was provided by the Virginia Wright Fund in honor of Prentice Bloedel; City of Seattle 1% for Art funds ; the Museum Development Authority and PONCHO (Patrons of Northwest Civic, Cultural and Charitable Organizations).
Hammering Man's arm "hammers" silently and smoothly four times per minute from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. It runs on a 3-hp electric motor set on an automatic timer. Hammering Man rests his arm each evening and every year on Labor Day.
The sculpture was fabricated by Lippincott, Inc., North Haven, Connecticut
and installed by Fabrication Specialities, Seattle.
On Labor Day 1993, a group of local artists attached a scaled-to-fit ball and chain
to the sculpture's leg.
, South Korea (37°34′11.67"N 126°58′20.85"E) next to the Heungkuk Life Insurance building in the Gwanghwamun area of the city.
Seoul's version of Hammering man was erected in 2002. It weighs 50 tons and stands 22 m/72 ft high.
Seoul's Hammering Man strikes a blow every minute and seventeen seconds and is considered an important city landmark.
In August 2009, the city of Seoul completed a project to move the sculpture 4.8 m/16 ft closer to the sidewalk and dedicated a new small gallery park at the site. A spiral path, surrounding the statue, was created to enhance the presence of the work of art. Specially designed benches, landscaping, and lighting were added to the surrounding park to complete the effect.
Reference:.
Jonathan Borofsky
Jonathan Borofsky is an American sculptor and printmaker who lives and works in Maine.Borofsky was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in 1964, after which he continued his studies at France's Ecole de Fontainebleau and received his...
which have been installed in various cities around the world
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
Frankfurt
Frankfurt Trade Fair
Frankfurt Trade Fair , with 448,000,000 Euros in sales and over 1,600 active employees, is one of the world's largest trade fair companies. The group has a global network of 28 subsidiaries, five branch offices, and 52 international sales partners. Thus, the Messe Frankfurt is present in over 150...
. (50°06′45"N 8°39′10"E)
Also in the same city was an unofficial 6 ft tall copy of the Hammering Man in the Hülya-Platz (in the district Bockenheim
Bockenheim (Frankfurt am Main)
Bockenheim is a district or Stadtteil of Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt II, and is subdivided into 7 Stadtbezirke. It is in the west-central part of the city and covers an area of 540.1 ha...
, 50°7′25.29"N 8°38′23.00"E) where the hammer, which could be moved with a hand crank, demolished a swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
.
The sculpture was donated by a citizen's group against neo-nazism
Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
to commemorate the Solingen arson attack of 1993
Solingen arson attack of 1993
The Solingen arson attack of 1993 was one of the most severe instances of anti-foreigner violence in modern Germany. On the night of May 28 to May 29, 1993, four young German men belonging to the far right skinhead scene, with neo-Nazi ties, set fire to the house of a large Turkish family in...
. The sculpture was often vandalised and in April 2007 it was demounted and scrapped after becoming so badly damaged and corroded that it was considered a danger for public safety.
The sculpture has since been replaced by a successor.
Seattle
Hammering Man in Seattle is 14.6 m (48 feet) tall, 76 cm (30 inches) wide and 18 cm (7 inches) deep, and weighs 26,000 pounds. He is located directly in front of the Seattle Art MuseumSeattle Art Museum
The Seattle Art Museum is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, USA. It maintains three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and the Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront, which opened on...
(47°36′25.31"N 122°20′17.20"W) and made out of hollow-fabricated steel with a mechanized arm of aluminum, an electric motor and flat black automotive paint. He was built in 1992 at a cost of $450,000. Original funding was provided by the Virginia Wright Fund in honor of Prentice Bloedel; City of Seattle 1% for Art funds ; the Museum Development Authority and PONCHO (Patrons of Northwest Civic, Cultural and Charitable Organizations).
Hammering Man's arm "hammers" silently and smoothly four times per minute from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. It runs on a 3-hp electric motor set on an automatic timer. Hammering Man rests his arm each evening and every year on Labor Day.
The sculpture was fabricated by Lippincott, Inc., North Haven, Connecticut
North Haven, Connecticut
North Haven is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut on the outskirts of New Haven, Connecticut.North Haven is less than ten miles from downtown New Haven and Yale University. It is near Sleeping Giant State Park and home the Quinnipiac University School of Health Sciences, the School of Nursing,...
and installed by Fabrication Specialities, Seattle.
On Labor Day 1993, a group of local artists attached a scaled-to-fit ball and chain
Ball And Chain
"Make This Love Right" , is a single written and produced by New Jersey house music producer Romanthony. The song was released on Azuli Records of New York in 1993. The song was something of an anomalous cultural craze in the city of Cork, Republic of Ireland, in the late 1990s where it became an...
to the sculpture's leg.
Seoul
The largest Hammering Man is in SeoulSeoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, South Korea (37°34′11.67"N 126°58′20.85"E) next to the Heungkuk Life Insurance building in the Gwanghwamun area of the city.
Seoul's version of Hammering man was erected in 2002. It weighs 50 tons and stands 22 m/72 ft high.
Seoul's Hammering Man strikes a blow every minute and seventeen seconds and is considered an important city landmark.
In August 2009, the city of Seoul completed a project to move the sculpture 4.8 m/16 ft closer to the sidewalk and dedicated a new small gallery park at the site. A spiral path, surrounding the statue, was created to enhance the presence of the work of art. Specially designed benches, landscaping, and lighting were added to the surrounding park to complete the effect.
Other cities
- New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
- Minneapolis
- Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
- BaselBaselBasel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
- La Jolla, California
- Gainesville, FloridaGainesville, FloridaGainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
- Dallas, TexasDallas, TexasDallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
- Seattle, WashingtonSeattle, WashingtonSeattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
- LillestrømLillestrøm' is a city in the municipality of Skedsmo, Akershus, Norway. The municipal administration is located in Lillestrøm.Facilities in Lillestrøm include hotels, Norway trade fairs, a brand new cinema, a mall, Lillestrøm torv, restaurants, a high speed commuter train that reaches both Oslo and...
Reference:.
Artist's statement
- The Hammering Man is a worker. The Hammering Man celebrates the worker. He or she is the village craftsman, the South African coal miner, the computer operator, the farmer or the aerospace worker-the people who produce the commodities on which we depend. This Hammering Man is 48 feet tall. It is constructed of steel (hollow-fabricated) and weighs over 20,000 pounds. A structural steel base-plate is bolted to a cement-block footing below ground level so that the architect's chosen material for the plaza can be brought up to flush to the feet of the sculpture. The Hammering Man appears to be standing (and working) on the plaza without a base in between. The black silhouette of the figure is, in fact, 30 inches wide: body (10 inches), arm (10 inches), space between arm and body (10 inches), as well as an extra 16 inches width at the top for the motor. The motorized hammering arm will move smoothly and meditatively up and down at a rate of four times per minute. Electricity runs from the motor down inside the sculpture and under the plaza to an on-off switch location. The Hammering Man is set on a timer and rests during evening and early morning hours. The sculpture has been sited so that the many pedestrians and drivers moving up and down First Avenue can enjoy the animated form while contemplating the meaning of the Hammering Man in their own lives.
- This sculpture is the second largest Hammering Man on the planet. A taller version is in Frankfurt, Germany. My goal is to have several different Hammering Men placed around the world-all working simultaneously. Other big outdoor versions of this work are in Japan and Switzerland. In the U.S. there are Hammering Men sculptures in New York, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., among other places. It's a concept which helps to connect all of us together and also gives each specific Hammering Man site the potential for its own personal interpretations. The State of Washington is known for its aerospace, electronics, timber, fishing, agriculture, and gold mining industries-people working with their hands, or manual labor. Let this sculpture be a symbol for all the people of Seattle working with others on the planet to create a happier and more enlightened humanity.
- I want this work to communicate to all the people of Seattle-not just the artists, but families, young and old. I would hope that children who see the Hammering Man at work would connect their delight with the potential mysteries that a museum could offer them in their future.
- At its heart, society reveres the worker. The Hammering Man is the worker in all of us.
- -Jonathan Borofsky