Head of Franz Kafka

*Head of Franz Kafka*
Head of Franz Kafka
Czech: Hlava Franze Kafky
	The sculpture in 2014
Artist	David Černý
Subject	Franz Kafka
Location	Prague, Czech Republic
	50°04′54″N 14°25′15″E / 50.08166°N 14.42082°E

The Head of Franz Kafka (Czech: Hlava Franze Kafky), also known as the Statue of Kafka,^[1] is an outdoor kinetic sculpture by David Černý depicting Bohemian German-language writer Franz Kafka, installed on 31. October 2014 outside of the Quadrio shopping mall in Prague, Czech Republic.^[2]^[3]^[4]

The price was 30 million crowns, paid by the investor CPI Property Group together with the adjacent Quadrio complex.

Kafka himself worked in the nearby building of a Saving Bank.^[5]

Description

The kinetic sculpture is 10.6 metres tall and made of 42 rotating stainless steelpanels weighting 24 tonnes in total.^[6] Each layer is mechanized and rotates individually.^[7] Inside, there are 21 motor modules and 1 kilometre of cables.

The programming of the sculpture's movements can be changed and the artist can create new choreographies. The flip side of this is the high maintenance, servicing must be done every fortnight.^[8]

Criticism

Critics point out that the statue is more an advertising billboard for the mall than an actual art piece. Critics accuse the statue of lacking a connection to Kafka's work, that this shiny, glittering and fascinating attraction lacks humility and sensitivity. When critics look at the visually attractive and technologically perfect sculpture, they miss the lost and brooding soul of Franz Kafka.^[9]

Others oppose, that complexity of the steelpanels and the change of form of the statue in time captures Kafka's work quite well. The statue attracts lots of visitors so it had succeeded to make Franz Kafka more present in modern Prague.^[9]