Hanging Man, known in Czech as Viselec and sometimes titled Man Hanging Out, is a sculpture by David Cerny depicting Sigmund Freud suspended by one hand from a beam high above Husova street in Prague's Old Town, near the junction with Skorepka. Cerny made the fibreglass figure, 220 centimetres tall, in 1996 during public discussion about the approaching end of the twentieth century, choosing Freud as the thinker who in his view defined nineteenth-century thought. It was installed above the street in 1997 and remains in place. Freud's poised, ambiguous posture has prompted varying readings, from a comment on intellectual anxiety to speculation about whether the figure is about to let go. It is mounted well above eye level and is easy to walk past without noticing. Viewing is free and unrestricted at any hour. The nearest metro station is Staromestska on line A.
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Husova street, Old Town · public sculpture · always viewable, free