With his “Stadtikonographien” / “urban iconographies” and “Farbwegen” / “color paths”, the sculptor and painter Otto Herbert Hajek became a trailblazer for modern public art. As a contribution to a living democracy, his abstract sculptures and accessible art landscapes are features of many places in the city center. With a simplified, constructivist formal vocabulary, the politically engaged artist creates projects around the world, as well as in Mülheim an der Ruhr.
In 1976–1977, Hajek’s design for a competition sponsored by the city and the Sparkasse became a reality. Hajek’s large work of art, encompassing benches, flowerbeds, fountains, and a 6.20-meter-tall steel sculpture, transformed the Viktoriaplatz, which had been used as a parking lot, into a place where people could relax and enjoy the space. In correspondence with the Kunstmuseum and the Medienhaus on today’s Synagogenplatz, the Hajek fountain marks Mülheim’s cultural center.
From above, the area, which is laid out on various levels, looks like an abstract relief painting. Surfaces painted in the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue ornament the terraced concrete components. Cubes, rhombuses, and triangles blend together, while the geometrical pattern continues in the pavement. The metallic surfaces of the monumental “landmark,” with its V-shaped extensions, reflects colors into the space.