Hammering Man

Kinetic large-scale sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky in front of Leeum Museum in Seoul — the hammering silhouette is a monument to all working people.

The Hammering Man is a motor-driven large-scale sculpture by US artist Jonathan Borofsky, installed since 1990 in front of the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul. The almost 22-metre-tall black silhouette of a working figure swings its hammer in a slow, meditative rhythm — not frantically like a machine, but at the pace of a real human worker. Borofsky has installed versions of the Hammering Man in cities around the world — Frankfurt, Seattle, Basel and others — but the Seoul figure is one of the largest. It is a homage to all working people and stands for the universal dignity of physical labour. Morning and evening you can watch the arm rise and fall, a quiet timekeeper in the urban bustle.