209 - Eugen Gomringer. Handwritten poem “Ciudad (Avenidas)” with signature. Avenidas | avenidas y flores || flores | flores y mujeres || avenidas | avenidas y mujeres || avenidas y flores y mujeres || y un admirador

Eugen Gomringer. Handwritten poem “Ciudad (Avenidas)” with signature. Avenidas | avenidas y flores || flores | flores y mujeres || avenidas | avenidas y mujeres || avenidas y flores y mujeres || y un admirador Starting time: approx. 2:01 p.m. (schedule subject to change) Written in black ballpoint pen on Zerkall handmade writing paper. - Signed and dated “January 2, 2010” at the bottom edge. - The poem, one of the most important and best-known works of Concrete Poetry, was written in 1951 and gained tragic notoriety 60 years later: After the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin awarded its Poetry Prize to Gomringer in 2011, the poem was painted on the university’s south facade. In 2018, it was painted over again after students at the university described the equating of women with flowers and streets—especially through the eyes of an admirer—as sexist. This “censorship”—though decided democratically—sparked opposition from many quarters eight years ago as an inappropriate encroachment on artistic freedom. — The autograph was a gift from the poet to the current owner.