Man - salvation or thorn of creation

An artistic process work about the future of the earth

On the occasion of the Passion Play 2020 in Auersmacher, sculptor Martin Steinert and light artist François Schwamborn have responded to the symbol of the crown of thorns as the instrument of suffering of Jesus Christ in the context of the current ethical and ecological chaos in the world order under the title: "Man - Salvation or thorn of creation".

Seemingly floating in the church space above the choir, the place of transformation, Martin Steinert has created an oversized quotation of a crown of thorns in weeks of work from countless sticks of regional wood. However, this wooden "crown of thorns of humanity" does not work on its own, it becomes the projection surface of a light installation by the light artist François Schwamborn. The artist is concerned with breaking through short-sighted and one-dimensional vision. In search of the salutary, he literally shines through the system of Martin Steinert's "Menschheitskrone" and encounters contradictions. A prologue by curator Peter Michael Lupp opens the work.

A video of the light installation gives an impression of the work.

The work thematizes a human world community that obviously or subtly perceives itself as the "crowning glory" of creation, and with a gesture of arrogance towards nature, withers the livelihood of future generations. The artistic process attempts to visualize the duality/polarity of the current world-ethical priming and the apparent powerlessness it triggers with the language of art.

The main venue is the Catholic Church Maria Heimsuchung in Auersmacher. On site above the choir of the church, a quotation of a crown of thorns made of wood and light corresponds with contents of the Passion of Christ and the credo of Laudato si' by Pope Francis. A public discourse on the cornerstones of a sustainable development of our living space accompanies the process. Another setting of the process-oriented work is the neighboring cultural site Wintringer Chapel on the Wintringer farm.

The image of a crown of thorns, which rampantly entwines our globe and with constantly growing thorns, our habitat with its unique treasures hurt and bleed, has solidified in me as a metaphor for the state of our globe. However, the realization of this image in my multi-part work should not be understood as a requiem for a dying living being, but as an appeal for a new appreciation of our planet and its resources. The light art, which comes to bear in the installation in the church of Auersmacher, may thereby symbolize the flickering glimmers of hope, which are not yet completely extinguished.

Sculptor Martin Steinert on the motivations behind his artistic contributions

The work takes the form of a multi-stage process work in which the viewers are involved:

1. main scene

Catholic Church Maria Heimsuchung Auersmacher until June 1, 2020
Opening: February 14, 2020, 7 pm

2. main scene

Cultural site Wintringer Chapel
per annum MMXIX - MMXX

Conversion

After completion of the project phase in Auersmacher, a transformation of the crown of thorns into a symbolic globe is planned from June 2020, which will be displayed at the Wintringer farm at the cultural site Wintringer Chapel. This process cites the upcoming change of ethical and ecological mindset within humanity, without which it will have no future. Sitting out and doing nothing would be too much for our planet: There has never been more causation than now and therefore never more responsibility for future generations.

Art lives from the ability to see the structure of the world with different eyes and to measure it anew.

With this intention Martin Steinert has dealt with the future of creation. Initially, models made of metal have been created to give an image to the pressing questions. These models will be shown at the cultural site Wintringer Chapel from winter 2019.

In front of the walled entrance of the right interior facade, fragments of a globe blown apart by a crown of thorns can be seen. A disturbing triptych of two half-shells flanked by the crown of thorns refer to the "worst case" in which the short-term interests of the present world community leave their descendants a plundered and divided planet.

In contrast, in the niche of the walled door to the sacristy, a globe reflects the vision of an ethical self-measurement and reorientation of humanity, based on a healing, networking togetherness that ultimately brings about cultural evolution. This healing process of transformation is distantly reminiscent of the process of transformation in the Catholic celebration of the Eucharist, which was celebrated in the medieval church space for centuries: A Story of Healing. In the Christian religious context, a new essentiality is realized in this [trans]transformation. What matters - the "actual" - is transformed into a new reality. The networked, discovered earth circle of the sculptor wants to allude to this transformation.

Project executing organization: junge bühne auersmacher Chairman/artistic director
Director of the Auersmacher Passion Play: Josef Lang, junge-buehne@t-online.de, www.junge-buehne-auersmacher.de
Curator: Peter Michael Lupp, Cultural Officer Regional Association Saarbrücken, peter.lupp@rvsbr.de
Project partners: Regional Association of Saarbrücken, Kleinblittersdorf parish, Saarbrücken parish, Saar-West church district of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, Bliesgau UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Wintringer farm, cultural site Wintringer Chapel

Knowledge + Action. An engaging art inspires habitat.

Short biographies of the artists

Martin Steinert

François Schwamborn

The focus of his artistic work is the examination of the perceptual apparatus of man and its limits

Pope Francis

Encyclical Laudato si' - On Care for the Common Home

Excerpt

...If man declares himself independent of reality and appears as an absolute ruler, his very basis of existence collapses. There will be no new relationship with nature without a new man....

14. I urgently invite a new dialogue about how we shape the future of our planet. We need a conversation that brings us all together, because the environmental challenge we face and its human roots interest and concern us all. The global ecological movement has already come a long and eventful way, spawning numerous civic associations that serve to raise awareness. Unfortunately, many efforts to seek concrete solutions to the environmental crisis tend to be in vain, not only because of the rejection of those in power, but also because of the disinterest of others....

The attitudes which - even among believers - block the ways to solutions range from denial of the problem to indifference, comfortable resignation or blind trust in technical solutions. We need a new universal solidarity. As the bishops of South Africa have said, "it will take the talents and commitment of all to repair the damage done by human abuse of God's creation." All of us, as instruments of God, can collaborate in the care of creation, each from his or her culture, experience, initiatives and abilities....

More info: www.dbk.de/themen/enzyklika-laudato-si/