Molecule Man and Hammering Man
Tuesday, 11th July 2006 by Alex Turnbull
Apparently floating on the river Spree in Berlin, the massive Molecule Man casts a striking shadow which leaves you in no doubt what it's a sculpture of. However from ground level you really see how well the illusion is realised.
Molecule Man was designed by an American artist Jonathan Borofsky, who is better known for another of his works, Hammering Man. Seen here outside the Seattle Art Museum, Hammering Man is actually a series of sculptures installed in various cities throughout the world, and sometimes (as in Seattle) he's motorised and hammers silently all day long.
I went looking for Hammering Man in various cities but the closest I could get to finding another one was in Frankfurt, where I think unfortunately he gets a little lost in this building's shadow. Does anyone know where he is in New York, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Basel (Switzerland) or Washington D.C.?
Thanks to Adrian.
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
As an aside, while I was trawling Frankfurt looking for Hammering Man I found this cool shadow of a well-known car manufacturers logo, as well as this super-funky roof garden.
In Basel he is around here, but sadly hidden in the shadows.
Here it is the one in Frankfurt. Unfortunately, it’s on the (really cool) shadow of the Messeturm. According to Wikipedia, the building holds the very exciting record of the world’s longest concrete pour…
Thanks LookingDown, but I already found that one, it’s linked in the article as “this building’s shadow”.
I prefer Muffler Man: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/muffler/ There’s your homework for the next one – try catch a Muffler Man on Googlemap. I’d be delighted!
There is one at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. (http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org) But unfortunately the google images is old and shows the building under construction. View Placemark
The Borofsky Hammering Man in Minneapolis is indoors in the Crystal Court at the IDS Center in downtown Minneapolis. The address is 80 South 8th Street. Another Borofsky sculpture, Man with Suitcase is outdoors at the nearby Walker Art Center. (Also the home of the Cherry on a spoon sculpture). Unfortunately, the resolution on this location is too poor to see the statues.
there is also one in the west yorkshire sculpture park which you can see! i once saw a dog wee through one of the holes on this, unfortunately this isnt in shot. View Placemark
The Hammering Man in Seattle once got an anonymous enhancement in the form of a 6′ diameterball and chain. Sadly, the Seattle engineering department removed it ti e next day.
Did anybody else immediately get the They Might Be Giants song “Particle Man” stuck in their head?
http://www.tmbg.org/band-info/songs/lyrics/ParticleMan.html
There’s one of these in DC? How come I didn’t know?
@ Slugs On Toast – I thought that was what he was referring to at first, but I forgot the lyrics…(Particle man, not molecule man)
There’s something similar in Munich, Germany – a sculpture of a White Man 🙂 Haven’t found him on Google Maps yet, but at least you can take a look at ground-level photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doc18/31269138/in/set-698102/
Oddly, Borofsky’s web site does not list a Hammering Man for Washington DC:
http://www.borofsky.com/public.htm
The Sculpture in Munich is called walking man !!! located on the Leopold-str
View Placemark
I think you can see the one in Dallas now since the images have been updated:
https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=32.789068,-96.800768&z=20