Poetic Monument: Ausdauer

Final Drawings:

In German, Ausdauer means “endurance and perseverance.” Literally translated, it means “staying power” or timeless. Our poetic monument is to the calligraphic, german hand Fraktur. The qualities we identified were repetition, equal strokes, and conscious angles. We chose to place the monument in Nuremberg, Germany.Because this was where Fraktur was designed by Hieronymus Andreae. To show the fluidity and meditation of the hand, we chose to place the monument in the river that runs through Nuremberg. A park stands on one side of the river with residential neighborhood surrounding both sides. We abstracted the fraktur alphabet into strokes. Each structure stands with equal distance between the representational “strokes.” This shows the rhythm and structure of the letterforms. The word shown is “Ausdauer” beginning with a capital, red, “A.” The supporting dock that surrounds the monument allows the viewer to see and appreciate the power and height from all sides. The monument reflects in the water and allows for the natural flow to move in and out of the strokes. These structures are made of coated iron to prevent rust in the water with the capital painted red. We chose to make the forms hollow on the inside and allow the wind to move over the tops of the structures which produces a slight humming noise. This represents the meditative quality of lettering calligraphy.

Ausdauer represents the enduring qualities of fraktur; authority through size, enduring history, meditative fluidity in sound and location, and structure in form.