Kopflos Bern

"Kopflos" at Casinoplatz is my favourite piece of art in the city's public space. It was created in 1986 by local artist Luciano Andreani who has also built the nearby "Wasserspeier" and a couple of other art pieces around the city. The green step on Casinoplatz has become a humble but eye-catching landmark known by each and every Bernese.

Much has been speculated about the Simpsonesque four toes on each foot. The artist has a simple answer to that: The piece of wood he used to build the 400-kilo bronze sculpure was too small for five toes. Andreani was not happy about this and thought about starting anew - but the audience was delighted about that genius detail. So the four toes stayed.

Andreani also has a simple explanation for the sculpture's name "kopflos" (headless). "The head of the sculpure is my own head", he says. So if he gave the sculpure a head, he would lose his own - and that would be very dangerous, right? Makes perfect sense.