Concrete towers made of prefabricated cubic forms that are stacked upon each appear frequently in Anselm Kiefer’s work of the last decade. Often they recall the towers of medieval cities as much as today’s skyscrapers. The first versions of these towers were built as monumental outdoor sculptures in the grounds of La Ribaute, a derelict silk factory in the south of France where Kiefer lives and works. Two towers, one in the process of falling and the other already collapsed, were the centrepieces of Kiefer’s exhibition 'Sternenfall (Falling Stars)' at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2007. Here the towers were seen to allude to the terrorist attack on the New York World Trade Centre known as 9/11 and the notion of a falling Western empire. The burning tower collapsing in on itself from the bottom upwards depicted in this photograph has similar associations.