Anselm Kiefer's First US Public Sculpture 'Uraeus' at Rockefeller Center

Anselm Kiefer's monumental public sculpture 'Uraeus' will be unveiled on May 2, 2018, at the Channel Gardens of Rockefeller Center in New York. Commissioned by real estate firm Tishman Speyer and the Public Art Fund, with support from Gagosian Gallery, the work is Kiefer's first public sculpture in the United States. The piece features a giant open book flanked by 10-meter-long eagle wings made of lead, atop a 6-meter stainless steel column also clad in lead. Additional books and a large snake coil around the column, referencing the Egyptian cobra goddess Wadjet and the symbol of divine authority. The eagle wings evoke the vulture goddess Nekhbet. Kiefer drew inspiration from Friedrich Nietzsche's 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' (1891), exploring themes of the will to power, the death of God, and the Übermensch. Lead was chosen for its alchemical associations with dissolution, the second stage of transformation. Kiefer, a key figure of German Neo-Expressionism alongside Georg Baselitz, A.R. Penck, Jörg Immendorff, and Sigmar Polke, continues his engagement with history, politics, and knowledge. Public Art Fund director Nicholas Baume notes that 'Uraeus' evokes classical mythology while addressing the digital age's proliferation and democratization of knowledge, alongside debates over truth. The sculpture will be on view through July 22, 2018.