Werther Brunnen / Werther Fountain

Metal sculptor Friederich Werthmann created works by blowing up or blasting open a finished metal form with dynamite. These sculptures emerged in the period after 1975 and the artist described them as his “dynamizations.” The same process was used here to create the Werther Brunnen / Werther Fountain, so that the ruptured inner surfaces sharply contrast the polished exterior of the stainless steel sphere.

The two-part sphere is located in a recess at the top of a paved mound that functions as the fountain basin. Each hemisphere stands on a stainless steel support and the cut surfaces face each other at a distance of slightly more than half a meter. According to the description by Friederich Werthmann, it is: “a sphere with a 62.5 cm cut-out. The inner surfaces are partly formed with dynamite, i.e. dynamized. Between these surfaces, 75 m³ of water are circulated per hour.” Water is sprayed from 26 nozzles that are integrated into the rough surfaces and it emerges from the space between the elements. The artist describes his work as the “representation of the contrast between controlled violence, chaotic in detail, and ordered geometric form.”

(cited from Ruth Meyer-Karweg, Denkmäler, Brunnen und Plastiken in Wuppertal, Wuppertal 1991, p. 454)