Eugen Gomringer-en

The father of concrete poetry, Eugen Gomringer, passed away in August 2025 at the age of 100. Since its founding, the internationally renowned artist maintained many connections to the Museum Modern Art in Hünfeld. He was close friends with its founder, Jürgen Blum Kwiatkowski, which is reflected in Gomringer's “Ode to Jürgen Blum” on a building facade at the Großenbacher Tor in Hünfeld.

Born in Bolivia as the son of a Swiss rubber factory director and his local partner, the artist and author worked with Max Bill at the Ulm School of Design from 1953 to 1957 and, among other things, founded the magazine Spirale with Marcell Wyss and Dieter Roth, in which he experimented with graphic text structures, from which he developed “concrete poetry.” As early as 1960, he published a book series entitled “poesia concreta” and published his poetic works in Schwyzer Dütsch, German, Spanish, French, and English. Inspired by concrete poetry, he also wrote advertising copy for the department store chain “Au Bon Marché” for 30 years, was a member of the Documenta Council, held visiting professorships in Bamberg and elsewhere, and founded the Institute for Concrete Art and Poetry in Rehau, where he lived, in 2000.

Since the founding of the Museum of Modern Art, he was a regular guest in Hünfeld for readings and exhibitions, and also left behind significant works here, such as the sculpture “Vokale” (Vowels) on the roundabout at the federal police station and the poetic texts embedded in Eugen-Gomringer-Weg. His concrete poetry also inspired the “Open Book” Hünfeld, with over 140 works that Jürgen Blum, in consultation with authors from all over the world, permanently installed on building facades in Hünfeld. He shared Blum's passion for “popularizing art in public spaces” in order to make it accessible to everyone.  

His poem “avenidas,” which adorned a wall of a Berlin university from 2011 to 2018, received particular international attention in public discussion. The university's general student committee criticized this wall design because, in the students' view, it degraded women.

He was married to Nortrud Gomringer, who holds a doctorate in German studies. The marriage produced a daughter, Nora Gomringer, who has been awarded the Bavarian State Prize for her poetry, among other honors.