Schleusenspucker Rathenow, Bronze sculpture at City Lock, Rathenow, Germany

Schleusenspucker Rathenow is a bronze sculpture consisting of three human figures and a dog positioned near the canal. One of the figures is equipped with a water mechanism that periodically sprays water outward.

The sculpture references the period between the 1920s and 1930s when dock workers waited at the lock for work on cargo vessels. During this time, workers passed the hours with spitting contests.

The name Schleusenspucker comes from local speech for the day labourers who waited at the old town harbour by the Rathenow lock in the 1920s and 1930s for freight barges and paid work. Between jobs they passed the time talking, drinking from a hip flask and holding spitting contests from the lock bridge. The bronze group, made in 2006, keeps that nickname alive at the spot where they waited.

The group stands on the western edge of Rathenow's old town harbour, on the bank of the Stadtkanal by the Stadtschleuse. The spitting is driven by a timer that is prone to failure and works only rarely, so do not count on seeing water come from the figure's mouth. The bronze figures and the dog sit on a grey metal rail above a stone base, with an information board to the left.

Only one figure actually spits: a water line runs to its mouth, but the timer that controls it is prone to failure and works only rarely. The dog sits low on the front left of the group, facing right.