The Open Book

With the project “Das Offene Buch” (The Open Book), Hünfeld offers a special form of encounter with concrete art and poetry. Museum founder Jürgen Blum had already been exploring this idea in the 1960s. It was based on the concept of drawing more public attention to text-like forms of thought. Texts of concrete, visual, experimental, and active poetry were to be displayed on empty facades throughout the city, accessible to everyone.

In the early 1990s, Jürgen Blum revisited the idea in Hünfeld. Between 1999 and 2015, a total of 145 facades in Hünfeld were decorated with visual poems. As so often, Blum succeeded in inspiring many people with his idea and winning them over to the project – without having to use public funds.

He managed to get international artists and authors on board and find many helpers who shared his enthusiasm. He convinced homeowners to make their facades available and set to work with tremendous personal commitment. Jürgen Blum proved to be the driving force behind the project, lending a hand himself and adding page after page to the “Open Book” in Hünfeld. As a result, a new form of art in public spaces has taken shape in the small town of Hünfeld.

On the way to work, while strolling through town, or out for a walk, you encounter thoughts visualized in Hünfeld through “Das Offene Buch” (The Open Book) that invite you to engage with them. This has created an urban museum. Eugen Gomringer, father of concrete poetry, also supported Blum's project. He described “Das Offene Buch” as an inspiring idea. “Art is no longer presented only in closed rooms, but a city tour is now appropriate. The city of Hünfeld offers reading and food for thought in complete openness and is worth a visit for that reason alone.”

Digital scavenger hunt through the open book

An interactive city rally through Hünfeld using your smartphone – it's possible with the “Actionbound” app. Children, teenagers, and adults can use the app to embark on a digital scavenger hunt through the “Open Book of the City of Hünfeld.”

The city rally, which is similar to a quiz, provides lots of information, clues, and interesting questions about the “Open Book” – and leads to places in Hünfeld that you suddenly see in a whole new light. The rally starts on foot, with your cell phone in hand, at the indoor swimming pool parking lot in Hünfeld. The app guides you to various walls of the Open Book, where you can answer questions about language and art, take photos of works of art, literally read the “Open Book” and collect points. As they walk through the city, children, teenagers and adults learn lots of new things about the “Open Book” and the background to the visual text fragments.

The so-called “Bound” is public and can be downloaded free of charge via the “Actionbound” app. The Bound can be found by entering the keywords ‘Hünfeld’ or “Open Book.”