Bruchtor / La Porta Aperta / The Open Gate

This work by Italian artist Marcello Morandini is part of the Hattingen city gate project. In the partially preserved medieval city wall, five city gates remain in place as historic entrances to the old town. The concept of the project was to use modern art to redefine all of the city gates, thereby creating new images of urban development.
The Open Gate was installed in 2010. Its straightforward geometric construction and reduced black and white color scheme are reminiscent of op art. The structure was completed in the artist’s typical concrete-constructivist style, which moves between the fields of architecture, design, and art. In this way, the traditional subject of the city gate has been translated into a current design language.