Juame Plensa: Gluckauf October 11, 2011

This work was originally made for a museum located in a German mining town. The title comes from a phrase used by German miners as early as the 1500s to wish luck to a fellow miner, either in his ability to hit ore or for his strenuous trip from the depths of the mine back to the Earth's surface. Today it is used as a greeting among miners to signify that they are part of a supportive community. Artist Jaume Plensa has added a question mark to the traditional greeting to create the title, which invites the viewer to contemplate how the words of the declaration resonate in different contexts.