Goepfert fountain
The Goepfert fountain is an ornamental fountain in front of the Eschenheimer Tower in Frankfurt am Main . It is named after its creator, the sculptor Hermann Goepfert .
The fountain
As part of the construction of the Frankfurt subway , a tapering traffic island was created at Eschenheimer Tor . A kinetic fountain system was designed on this from 1967 to 1970 by the painter and object artist Hermann Goepfert . The lake-like fountain sculpture, 50 m long, 14 m wide and aluminum walls up to 2.50 m high, is equipped with five rotating rotors through which the water flows into the basin. The well system, which was put into operation in 1968, was controversial from the start. The aluminum tips used shone like shark teeth in the sun. The vernacular gave the fountain the nickname Mackie Messer . The professional association of visual artists accused the building department of having given Goepfert these (and many other) orders through “dubious machinations”. Goepfert created at this time for the city of Frankfurt, among others, the light tower at the Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium , the object in the Ernst-Reuter-Schule , the Optophonium in Spastikerschule and the air tower in NordWestZentrum . Loud criticism came from drivers and the Frankfurt am Main Chamber of Commerce . The moving aluminum elements and the water flowing over them generated light reflections and glare and thus endangered traffic safety. Relocation to another location was requested. The maintenance costs were also discussed.
In 2004 the well was badly damaged in a car accident. A motorist had lost control of the car at excessive speed and damaged the aluminum palisades and gears. The well was repaired again at a cost of € 85,000. In 2005, during construction work on the Eschenheimer Tor underground station below , the fountain's sewer line was accidentally cut off. Since then the well has stopped running. In 2018, the city put the costs for a restart at € 700,000. Since these funds are not available in the household, the well will remain dry until further notice.
Web links
- Kinetic system by Hermann Goepfert on the website Art in Public Space in Frankfurt am Main
swell
- Matthias Trautsch: A shark on dry land; in FAZ of October 6, 2018, p. 37
- Judith Dietermann: The city has no money: Goepfert-Brunnen stays dry; in: FNP from January 16, 2018, online
- Beate Kemfert: Hermann Goepfert (1926–1982) - post-war art in Frankfurt am Main; Studies on Frankfurt History, Volume 43, 1999, ISBN 978-3-7829-0494-0 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 7 ′ 2.1 ″ N , 8 ° 40 ′ 46.2 ″ E