Hammering Man

Jonathan Borofsky (1942~) is an American sculptor, who installs large-sized surrealistic art pieces at a public place or in front of a building in major cities across the world. He presented , the previous version of for the first time in 1979 at Paola Cooper Gallery in New York. Right after the exhibition, he changed the name to to gain reputation as a sculptor and installed the piece in 11 cities worldwide. The Hammering Man in front of Heungkuk Life Insurance Building is the 7th piece installed after Germany, Switzerland, and the US, and the largest in the world with the total length of 22 meters. He brings down a hammer every 35 seconds from 8 AM to 7 PM every day (operating hours change in summer and winter seasons/ not operated on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays), as if he represents legions of office workers in Gwanghwamun, imparting the value of labor and life through ceaseless hammering.