Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Frankfurt

Adorno Monument

Object: Adorno monument
Location: Theodor W. Adorno-Platz
District: Bockenheim
Artist: Zakharov, Vadim
Technique: Black granite, white marble, wood, glass
Date: 2003
Occasion: Inaugurated on the Theodor W. Adorno-Platz on 10th October 2003 on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Theodor W. Adorno.
The design by Russian artist Vadim Zakharov won the competition for the "Adorno Monument" against six other entries. On the 100th birthday of philosopher and sociologist Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno, in September 2003, the monument on Adorno-Platz in Bockenheim was inaugurated. Adorno was one of the founders of the Institut für Sozialforschung (Institute for Social Research) and became famous with the book "Dialektik der Aufklärung" (Dialectic of Enlightenment), co-written by Max Horkheimer, one of the founding texts of Kritische Theorie (critical theory). Zakharov decided on a place-specific, narrative installation, a physical re-creation of Adorno's desk. Under a 2,50 x 2,50 m safety glass top there stand a desk and a chair on parquet flooring. On the desk there's a lamp that switches on during the night, an incessantly ticking metronome and an open copy of "Negative Dialektik" ("Negative Dialectics"). The metronome refers to Adorno's work as composer and musicologist. The glass cube is framed by a labyrinth of black and white granite tiles engraved with Adorno-quotations.
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