Many things you expect to see in small southern German cities: cathedrals (check), the rathaus (check), city squares (check), clocks and sundials on the sides of buildings (check), quaint old architecture (check), cobblestones (check), but then you come around a corner and into a small courtyard and there is the weirdest thing you ever could imagine seeing. Yes, TPP will let you guess all day, and bet that you won't guess even if you knew it was about a famous person who was born in Ulm. As it turns out
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, and Ulm is quite proud of that even though it is not certain if Albert ever visited his birth place as an adult or felt much attachment to the city. Now there are lots of ways to honor people, and Ulm does have a street named after Einstein, but this sculpture does make you wonder a bit about what kind of honor this represents? Einstein made one famous rude gesture, sticking his tongue out at a photographer, and that moment was captured in this sculpture showing his head emerging from a snail shell. The meaning of this piece of art is perplexing and obscure (any interpretations out there?), and while interesting, it's not all that likable or attractive, yet vaguely compelling. But definitely not what you were expecting to find!
RFK Jr. is not a serious person. Don't take him seriously.
3 weeks ago in Genomics, Medicine, and Pseudoscience
2 comments:
Einstein-Brunnen beim Zeughaus
``Der Ulmer Einsteinbrunnen beim Zeughaus ist eine Bronzeguss-Plastik des Bildhauers Jürgen Goertz aus Sinsheim. Er besteht aus folgenden drei Elementen:
1. er untere "Raketenstumpf" steht für die Eroberung des Alls, Technik und die atomare Bedrohung.
2. Das darüberliegende Schneckengehäuse steht für Natur, Weisheit und Skepsis gegenüber dem Beherrschen der Technik.
3. Aus diesem Schneckenhaus ragt der Kopf von Albert Einstein mit schelmischen Augen und spöttisch herausgestreckter Zunge.
Anmerkung: Das wohl bekannteste Bild von Albert Einstein mit herausgestreckter Zunge wurde in Princeton an Einsteins 72. Geburtstag von einem Pressefotografen aufgenommen. Einstein wurde, obwohl er schon im Auto saß, immer wieder von Reportern und Fotografen bedrängt. Man ließ nicht von ihm ab und er soll gerufen haben: "That’s enough, that’s enough!" Als er dann auch noch um eine Geburtstagspose gebeten wurde, streckte er seinen "Verfolgern" die Zunge heraus.''
So, a bronze cast by Jürgen Goertz. At the Einstein fountain by the Arsenal. A rocket, standing for space, technology, nuclear threat; a snail shell standing for nature, wisdom, and technology scepticism. And then, Einstein.
Many thanks for the explanation.
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