Plot

Adlon recounts the making of the sculpture, "Kugelkaryatide" the sphere that stood in the center of Tobin Plaza between the two towers of the World Trade Center. The film follows the sculpture from its creation as the largest bronze sculpture of recent times to the aftermath, where it now stands, heavily scarred, in Battery Park.—havan_ironoak@bigfoot.com

The only work of art in or around the World Trade Center that miraculously survived the terror attack of September 11, 2001, is the monumental fountain sculpture "Kugelkaryatide" created and built by the Bavarian sculptor Fritz Koenig. Although "The Sphere" survived, it is not undamaged. It carries heavy scars that makes it an eloquent witness of the disaster. As the center piece of a memorial for the victims of the attack, it will be a witness of the terrible day for generations to come.

Koenig, born in 1924 in Würzburg, Germany, is one of the most important and prominent German sculptors after World War II. His work was shown in exhibitions all over the world. He calls "The Sphere" his biggest child. It is 25 feet high, cast in 52 bronze segments, put together in Bremen, and shipped as a whole to Lower Manhattan. It was commissioned by the Port Authority in the late sixties. Originally, Henry Moore was supposed to create the fountain. But the twin towers architect Minoru Yamasaki, who had seen Koenigs work at the Staempfli Gallery in Manhattan, decided to ask the German sculptor. "I was in my mid-forties at that time" says Koenig , "not too young anymore, and not too old yet to tackle the enormous endeavor."

Filmmaker Percy Adlon (Bagdad Café) who has made two previous documentaries about Fritz Koenig in 1979 and 1996, meets with Koenig five weeks after the attack and the two visit Ground Zero.

The film shows Koenig in New York City before, during and after his confrontation with the remains of his sculpture between the rubble of Ground Zero. The New York scenes are intercut with Koenigs story about the making of the biggest bronze sculpture of our time. A story of an extraordinary task. And a story of broken art as a symbol of tortured humanity.