A metal morphing head visualizes Franz Kafka's distressed psyche
A visually striking 11m tall head kinetic sculpture in Prague has been formed of renowned writer Franz Kafka. Located inside a busy shopping centre, right next to a building in which Kafka himself once worked as a clerk in an insurance company, the sculpture has been named 'K on Sun' and was created by David Černý, a courageous Czech sculptor.
Words by Lauren Beeching
The mirrored sculpture is formed of 42 stainless steel independently driven layers and each one of them rotates at 6 rpm. Cerný says that he created this piece of art in order to help distract the people of Prague from frustrations of bureaucracy. Cerný has previously made several other pieces of art that are just as superbly peculiar. The piece fiercely reveals Kafka's infamous tortured personality and merciless self-doubt that inundated him his entire life.
"The tremendous world I have in my head. But how to free myself and free them without ripping apart. And a thousand times rather tear in me they hold back or buried. For this I'm here, that's quite clear to me."-Franz Kafka
The layering of objects is a familiar design for Cerný who built a similar rotating head that also functions as a fountain titled 'Metalmorphosis' in the United States."K on Sun" presents an imposingly sombre piece in comparison to many of Cerný's other, more unusual, works. A permanent installation at FUTURA gallery in Prague opened some eyes where you can climb a ladder and put your head inside the sculpture to find and watch an arbitrary video of two Czech politicians feeding each other to the soundtrack of "We are the Champions."
Images provided by David Cerný
It is hard to imagine that the humorous and controversial artist had a more serious, uncomplicated objective with the kinetic sculpture compared to previous examples of his unique work. In envisioning Franz Kafka as an enormous, mirrored head, Cerný overturns the author's personal, independent world and turning it into an outlandishly, unrestricted presence that resembles an immense, stainless steel representation.
Image provided by @gxrrettotoole
