Araeus by Anselm Kiefer...

12:00 a.m.

09/08/18 - A 6 mts sculpture welcomes us at the entrance of the Rockefeller Center plaza in New York. The artist is Anselm Kiefer (Germany, 1945) and in this site-specific the Egyptian goddess Uadyet or Wadjet is portrayed as a cobra snake that rises to an open book with eagle wings. The uraeus (the name of the artwork) is the representation of the goddess and became the protecting emblem of several Pharaohs, that carried it in their foreheads. It could only be used by the highest ranks of the monarchy.

Kiefer includes also the myth of the phoenix that rises from its ashes and the medical caduceus. All this together refers to the search of knowledge through books.

History, culture, religion and mythology, together in one same artwork to place the spotlight in the role of books as broadcaster of knowledge.