At the edge of the Wallanlagen green belt—the former rampart that used to separate the city center from its outlying districts—a gray ventilation shaft stands among the various monuments and memorials between the financial and red-light districts. Only inside the shaft does the sculpture come into view. Surrounded and protected by pink, and in the gentle flow of air and water, the view opens into the sky. Accessible day and night for everyone, the shaft closes if needed.
Every public space is political; every public space is social. The idea at its core is its free accessibility and individual utilization. It is designed and organized by the public sector: in this case the parks commission, the office of public monuments, and the municipal museum. Once realized, its use is wholly individual and can depart from how it was imagined. Cyprien Gaillard concerned himself with this site over a period of two years and created a sculpture that neither pays homage nor commemorates, neither extols nor warns, but simply serves. In the midst of the public space, it offers a place of intimacy.
Cyprien Gaillard conceived Frankfurter Schacht (Frankfurt Shaft, 2021) specifically for this site in the Taunusanlage Park in Frankfurt am Main. The sculpture is situated between Taunusanlage S-Bahn station entrances 3 and 4, opposite the address Taunusanlage 12.