Transformation - World Circle Earth
Martin SteinertFrançois Schwamborn
Shaping change together + healing in the network of worldwide UNESCO biosphere reserves.
Art project "Transformation - World Circle Earth"
The artistic process (background)
On the initiative of the Regional Association of Saarbrücken, a process-oriented art project in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Bliesgau has been dedicated to the future of the earth since 2020. The venues of the art project are the catholic church Maria Heimsuchung in Auersmacher and the cultural site Wintringer Chapel on the Wintringer farm. Both places are located in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Bliesgau, which stands as a model region and "ideas laboratory" for a sustainable coexistence of man and nature.
The art project is intended to explore, within the framework of regional development, the extent to which ecological thinking and action can be intensified through accompanying artistic processes. The aim is to inspire, by means of the language of art and culture, an approach to an ecologically and ethically sustainable relationship between man and nature and to visualize the global context. The participating artists are Martin Steinert (sculptor) and François Schwamborn (light art).
An additional component interweaves the creation of the artworks with content essences that describe the process and its vision in poetic and, in the broadest sense, philosophical language. This role is assumed by the curator and idea giver of the art project Peter Michael Lupp from the Regional Association Saarbrücken, who accompanies the entire artistic process in terms of content, continues to shape it and reflects and documents it in a researching manner. Accordingly, the visual work is not only what the eye can recognize, but also that which can be brought in and further developed through artistic [poetic] seeing and thinking in the interplay with place, space and time.
The entire process has so far been overshadowed by the Corona pandemic, which has brought into overdrive humanity's relationship with nature and struggles for answers.
Background informationProcess phase 2020: Catholic Church Maria Heimsuchung Auersmacher
As part of the Auersmacher Passion Play, sculptor Martin Steinert formed an oversized crown of thorns above the altar of the Maria Heimsuchung Catholic Church in Auersmacher. Seemingly floating above the altar, the image cites a humanity that sees itself as the crown of creation and increasingly littering planet Earth with thorns. The light artist François Schwamborn had projected a light installation on this sculpture of the crown of thorns in 2020, which expressed the different views and motivations of mankind on the future of the earth.
Breviary on the project (44 pages, illustrated, price 3,- €), available on site and via peter.lupp@rvsbr.de
Process phase 2021: Cultural site Wintringer Chapel
part of the annual art projects, sculptor Martin Steinert created a wooden sculpture in the shape of a sphere at the Wintringer Chapel Cultural site in April 2021 using the same technique as in Auersmacher. It bears the title "[Ver]Wandlung - Weltenkreis Erde" (Transformation - World Circle Earth) and responds in the artistic process to the installation "Dornenkrone" (Crown of Thorns) (Man - Salvation or Thorn of Creation), which the artist created in 2020 in the Maria Heimsuchung Catholic Church in Auersmacher.
The sculpture "World Circle Earth" articulates through the language of art the healing process of social and ecological change of humanity in favor of a better world. In the global network of currently 714 UNESCO biosphere reserves, this "transformation" can experience a special dynamic. In order to visualize the global network of "idea laboratories", green colored wooden segments were inserted into the sculpture during the creation process with the participation of many local people. Each individual wooden segment stands for a UNESCO biosphere reserve on earth.
Seeing realities in a new and different way: The artistic form of expression
The two symbolic images "Crown of Thorns" and "World Circle Earth" were formed by the sculptor Martin Steinert by joining, connecting and interlinking segments of regional wood. This technique highly visualizes the interaction of myriad human perspectives and ideas in shaping life[s] spaces and the future. By connecting the woods to form the sphere "World Circle Earth", the responsibility of each UNESCO biosphere reserve (green wood segment), but also of each individual human being for the statics of the whole, comes to the fore. Only on the basis of personal responsibility, knowledge and action, the overall social change can be renegotiated!
The voids in the structure of the sculptures illustrate the relevance of transparency as the basis for a synergetic external and internal cohesion of the UNESCO biosphere reserves. Networked ecological thinking becomes the impetus for social and cultural change in an increasingly complex living world. Through effective exchange and knowledge transfer, voids can be successively transformed by knowledge of "what holds the world together at its core" (Goethe).
On another symbolic level, the green wood segments refer to the European "Green Deal", which sees itself as a transformation project for climate and people and has set itself the goal of reducing net greenhouse emissions to zero by 2050, establishing a circular economy and achieving important soil diversity targets. This "Green Deal" could become an identification project for the entire global community.
Participation and involvement
The creation process of the sculpture "World Circle Earth" took place with the participation of local people. The 714 wooden segments were cut to size by employees of Lebenshilfe für Menschen mit Behinderung Obere Saar and colored with a green eco-paint. In this way, employees and guests of the Wintringer farm were able to actively participate in the artistic process already during the sculpture's creation phase and symbolically set an impulse for change.
Image gallery
Impulses of change of the Junge Bühne Auersmacher
In addition, on the initiative of the amateur acting group "junge bühne auersmacher", a miniature model "World Circle Earth" is created in the catholic church Maria Heimsuchung in Auersmacher in the field of vision of the "Crown of Thorns". In the course of the year, impulses of change into a better world are woven in with publicity effect (contact: Josef Lang, josef.lang@vodafonemail.de).
Art walk for change
Both locations are connected via an imaginary "path of change". The route follows the paths of the pilgrims of St. James, the "Starry Path", with wonderful views of the old cultural landscape of the Bliesgau (one-way distance approx. 6 km).
Knowledge Transfer: Speaking to the World through Art
The image "[Ver]Wandlung - Weltenkreis Erde | Gemeinsam + heilsam den Wandel im Netzwerk der weltweiten UNESCO-Biosphärenreservate gestalten" (cover letter/
For the first time, the global impact of UNESCO biosphere reserves is visualized through an art project.
The art project is intended to explore, within the framework of regional development, the extent to which ecological thinking and action can be intensified through accompanying artistic processes. The project is intended as a contribution to cultural education for sustainable development and also provides an example of the MAB action PROUD TO SHARE, which aims to promote international networking in sustainable knowledge transfer. Background: All over the world, committed, imaginative people are working to achieve the "Agenda 2030" with its 17 "Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" (global sustainability goals) adopted by the United Nations in 2015. The campaign "#ProudtoShare - Tell the story of your biosphere reserve and get the chance to inspire the world!" of the UNESCO-MAB program aims to bring these activities to the forefront and thus show how biosphere reserves successfully contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals through the engagement of their inhabitants.
Every work of art is a moment; every successful one is an introduction, a momentary pause of the process, as which it reveals itself to the persistent eye. If the works of art are answers to your own question, then they become thereby even more questions.
Theodor W. Adorno in "Aesthetic Theory," c. 1970
Learning and practicing artistic vision and thinking
Continuation of the transformative artistic process after completion of the artwork
With the completion of the sculpture "Transformation - World Circle Earth" at the cultural site Wintringer Chapel, the sculptor Martin Steinert has carefully created an imposing image of the aesthetics of the medieval refuge, whose structure and surface at first glance associate the global network idea of the UNESCO biosphere reserves. The conception of the art project, however, does not want to leave it exclusively with an expressive first impression and searches with an inquiring eye further into the perceptions of the viewers in order to reveal the transforming character of artistic processes.
This phase of the project is about the expansion of human perception and worldly space through the practice of artistic seeing, thinking and creating as a spiritual tool. Every human being has this "tool" at his or her disposal and basically all people who are open to it are capable of this creative act. The aim is to obtain knowledge processing or knowledge transfer, if art becomes the link in the process. Possibly in this creative way the human creative space expands.
Artistic [poetic] seeing in this context means to engage with awake eyes and all senses curiously, exploring, forming, researching aesthetic phenomena, images, [art] works, which "being there" gives us in everyday life. Artistic thinking opens up from this more intensive and more precise [world] perception and the slow approach to what life is actually about. Both are a poetic and thus highly lively form of cognition, which in a figurative sense is able to form the thoughts like a touching poem!
The components of this new way of seeing and thinking require practice and a gathering from the distraction of everyday life. In this undivided attention - also detached from a direct encounter with art - the possibility can open up to recognize the invisible in order to gain new perspectives from it. Artistic [poetic] seeing and thinking can thus lead to new insights vis-à-vis reality, in order to make "being there" more meaningful, more fulfilling and thus more sustainable.
In this creative way of viewing images and places, the installation "World Circle Earth", in addition to its outer shell, also wants to become comprehensible in a deeper and [ver]transformed sense and give an inspiring example. Any interpretation is permissible. Herein lies the transformative power of an engaged art. It can change our view of the world and reality. The entire artistic process is situated in this realization. The way there is an unusual field of practice and experiment at the same time and needs above all people who curiously and playfully engage in a new perception of the world without idealizing it.
Letting art transform you and the world
You are therefore cordially invited to consciously see and think about your abilities artistically [poetically] for once and to sound them out on site. We would be delighted if you would share your experiences with us during this exercise and participate in the artistic process in this way. In doing so, you will be making an important contribution to exploring new avenues in aesthetic and cultural education for sustainable development!
Guidance and questions for the exercise of artistic seeing and thinking
Please take your time to look at the artwork and the place attentively and patiently and let it affect you. Read the information about the background of the work of art and the place and also the poem about it. Walk around the medieval cultural monument cultural site Wintringer Chapel and take your time to pause in silence in the interior of the place. Feel the space with all your senses and follow your thoughts and inner images. In this meditative state, the mind can make new connections. This creative engagement with the place and the art is an essential prerequisite to initiate a change of perspectives.
Your participation in the artistic process
What did this alert and mindful observation and exploration of the medieval site in juxtaposition with contemporary art trigger in you? Can you capture your impulses in a drawing, music, or short text? Do you know a poem or music that paraphrases your thoughts and emotions on the subject of transformation?
Can you imagine practicing artistic seeing and thinking as a new way of perception in everyday life as well?
Send us your impulses
Peter Michael Lupp, Cultural Officer Regionalverband Saarbrücken
Regional Development and Planning Department
Saarbrücken Castle
66119 Saarbrücken
Tel. 0049 681 / 506-6006
E-mail peter.lupp@rvsbr.de
Knowledge Transfer: Speaking to the World through Art
Worldwide call to the World Network of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves
The picture "[Transformation] - World Circle Earth | Shaping change in the network of worldwide UNESCO biosphere reserves together + healthily" has already been on the published UNESCO website. The unusual art project was presented in a circular mail sent to all 714 UNESCO biosphere reserves worldwide as part of the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO program "Man and the Biosphere". This was accompanied by an international appeal to send back a sign of solidarity in the form of a quote for change and a reference to their own art projects on sustainability. In this way, the impact of art and poetry within the global community of UNESCO biosphere reserves is emphasized and disseminated!
This is the first time that an art project has visualized the global impact of UNESCO biosphere reserves.
The process-oriented art project thus provides an example for the MAB action PROUD TO SHARE, which aims to promote international networking in the sustainable transfer of knowledge. Background: All over the world, committed, imaginative people are working to achieve the "Agenda 2030" with its 17 "Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" (global sustainability goals) adopted by the United Nations in 2015. The campaign "#ProudtoShare - Tell the story of your biosphere reserve and get the chance to inspire the world!" of the UNESCO-MAB program aims to bring these activities to the forefront and thus show how biosphere reserves successfully contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals through the engagement of their inhabitants.
First feedback on the art project "Transformation - World Circle Earth"
From Turkey by Baris Ötztürk
Baris Ötztürk is enrolled in the Master's program in "Biosphere Reserves Management" at the University for Sustainable Development in Eberswalde. His hometown is Artvin in northeastern Turkey, which together with the Camili Biosphere Reserve has been part of the worldwide network of UNESCO biosphere reserves since 2005.
You can find a story about a visit to Artvin in English in the PDF download "Corn Bread Yogurt and Honey". And background information on the Camili Biosphere Reserve on the following page, which is supported by the Turkish UNESCO National Committee: https://mewewhole.com/en/events-2/esd-book/corn-bread-yogurt-and-honey-life-in-camili/
Second feedback on the art project "Transformation- World Circle Earth"
From the Archipelago Sea biosphere reserve in southwestern Finland
Lillemor Eklund, born and raised on the island of Houtskär. During her life she published four books in Swedish with poems, mainly about the sea and the nature of the archipelago.
With its tens of thousands of islands and skerries, the Archipelago Sea is a unique place on earth. It is a living archipelago with nearly 100 inhabited islands. The cultural landscapes and the many different habitat types, both above and below the water surface, make the Archipelago Sea one of the most biodiverse areas in the country.
Since 1994, large parts of the archipelago have been part of the worldwide network of UNESCO biosphere reserves. All biosphere reserves strive to improve man's interaction with nature. Together with the local population, entrepreneurs, researchers, authorities and various organizations, the Archipelago Biosphere Reserve aims to find sustainable ways of living and working in the archipelago - ways that promote positive archipelago development and a clean sea.
A warm welcome! We are all part of the biosphere!
VISION
In the Archipelago Sea Biosphere Reserve, residents live and work in a sustainable archipelago landscape with rich nature, a prosperous sea and a vibrant community. The area actively cooperates with other areas at home and abroad.
MISSION
For sustainable social development, we are working on behalf of UNESCO to find local solutions to global challenges. The Archipelago Biosphere Reserve, in cooperation with the global network of biosphere reserves, will act as a model area for sustainable solutions.
Further information: www.biosfar.fi
www.abo.fi/centret-for-livslangt-larande/skargard/
Knowledge + Action. A dedicated art inspires habitat
My art mostly responds to a particular place or theme in the context of cultures and people and therefore mostly involves a participatory approach. People can participate mentally in my works and are quite free to make their own image of them. In connection with the question of how we can make the earth a better place, I am pleased to be involved since 2020 in an artistic process that seeks to spark new forms of cultural dialogue. Here, a wide variety of actors are collaborating through the format of art - as a mediator in shaping change. This process is both an experiment and a model that will certainly also provide an impetus in the global network of UNESCO biosphere reserves.
Martin Steinert, sculptor
The transformative power of the arts can have a meaningful effect in the current socio-cultural crisis if it is actively integrated into the processes of opinion formation. With this process-oriented art project, we have therefore set ourselves the goal of using the language of art and poetry to explore new ways and forms of understanding and networking in order to win people over for self-confident thinking and courageous action in the upcoming social and ecological change.
Peter Michael Lupp, Cultural Officer Regional Association
The preservation of creation is the central human task of the 21st century. Crucial to successful change is the courage to break up old patterns and do little unnecessary conservation. This should be well communicated. Up to now, it has been underestimated how cultural education for sustainable development and targeted committed art can support this. Society should develop an awareness of the need to leave behind outdated structures in order to build a new and ecologically sustainable reality. This requires courage and creativity. This scenario describes the new art project "Transformation - World Circle Earth" at the cultural site Wintringer Chapel in the mirror of the global network of UNESCO biosphere reserves.
Peter Gillo, Regional Association Director, Patron of the Project
In order to mediate between the ideas of sustainable living and the current social structures, creative strategies are needed, and we will certainly have to try out completely new and unfamiliar approaches. This is the only way to bring about a profound change in basic cultural attitudes. The artistic process of the art project "Transformation- World Circle Earth" at the cultural site Wintringer Chapel makes an extraordinary contribution to this. It brings people into contact with the upcoming ethical and ecological change on an emotional level through the medium of visual art. I am very pleased that this art project has even succeeded in initiating an exchange in the world network of UNESCO biosphere reserves.
Dr. Theophil Gallo, District Administrator of the Saarpfalz District and Chairman of the Bliesgau Biosphere Association
The art project "Man - Salvation or thorn of creation" has generated a great response from all the participants of the junge bühne auersmacher as well as from the people who have come into contact with the work in the Catholic Church Auermacher! We see ourselves as a link in an artistic process that shows how important cultural work and art are in shaping change in a social-cultural crisis, the cause of which is probably the overexploitation of mankind with its own habitat - the earth. We will accompany this valuable cultural initiative of the Regional Association Saarbrücken with the artistic impulses of an acting group, in order to mirror the importance of a pending process of ecological change to the people who live here. The example underlines the importance of cultural work in the model region Biosphere Reserve Bliesgau. The power of charity can change - transform the world. It can also save the blue planet, our only earth. We want to provide food for thought. Thinking promotes the willingness to act [transform].
Josef Lang, Artistic Director of the amateur acting group "junge bühne auersmacher"
The medieval cultural monument is literally the heart of the Wintringer farm and as a Cultural site a nucleus of which we are particularly proud. For more than 20 years, on the initiative of the Regional Association of Saarbrücken, it has been transformed into a Cultural site that is now known far beyond its borders. Through contemporary art, which always deals with the place and topics of sustainability, the cultural monument has developed into a place where people pause and gain impulses for sustainable ways of life. Here, people with and without disabilities meet again and again - a sign of inclusion. Thus, a fruitful interaction of social mission, ecological agriculture, hospitality, art and culture takes place at the Wintringer farm. The current art project [Ver]Wandlung, which also takes the global vision of the UNESCO biosphere reserves as its theme in a sculpture by sculptor Martin Steinert, expresses this in impressive, artistic language.
Klaus Posselt, Managing Director of Lebenshilfe for people with disabilities Obere Saar
The art projects at the cultural site Wintringer Chapel illustrate to a high degree the importance of art and culture in raising awareness for sustainability and the associated mission of the UNESCO biosphere reserves. The current artwork visualizes for the first time with the language of art the global network of currently 714 model regions, which are spread all over the world. With this art project, we present all current UNESCO biosphere reserves within the framework of the MAB action PROUD TO SHARE, in order to contribute as the Bliesgau Biosphere Reserve to international networking in the sustainable transfer of knowledge. The UNESCO MAB program aims to bring these activities in front of the curtain and thus show how biosphere reserves successfully contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals through the commitment of their inhabitants.
Dr. Gerhard Mörsch, Managing Director of the Biosphere Association Bliesgau
Realization of the sculpture "World Circle Earth": Martin Steinert (sculptor)
Curator: Peter Michael Lupp, Regional Association Saarbrücken (Idea/Conception/Text)
Cooperation partners: Lebenshilfe für Menschen mit Behinderung Obere Saar e.V./Wintringer farm, Regional Association Saarbrücken, Biosphärenzweckverband Bliesgau, junge bühne auersmacher, Maria Heimsuchung Catholic Parish, Kleinblittersdorf Community, German UNESCO Commission
Short biography of the artist
| 1959 | Born in Saarbrücken |
| 1979-81 | Apprenticeship as sculptor |
| 1981-85 | Studies of Art History, University of Saarbrücken |
| 1984-87 | Management of a gallery for contemporary art, Saarbrücken |
| Since 1988 | Freelance sculptor |
| 1999-2007 | Studio in the old chapel, Sulzbach |
| Since 2009 | Atelier at KuBa, Saarbrücken |