"Off - Sound Jo Achermann Oberkirche Forms"

The exhibition "Aus - Klang Jo Achermann: Oberkirche Formen" can be seen in Cottbus' Oberkirche St. Nikolai until November 26, 2023.

Program of the finissage on Saturday, 25 November 2023, from 2 pm:

Organ composition for the work Organ composition for the work "Oberkirche Formen", Peter Wingrich
About the exhibition, Dr. Ulrich Röthke
Hand harmonica, Gregor Kliem
Get-together, still life with drinks

About the exhibition
A description by Dr. Ulrich Röthke, Dr. Ulrich Röthke, curator for painting, graphics and sculpture from the Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art

The Cottbus upper church of St. Nikolai impresses with its clear late Gothic design language. After being badly damaged during the Second World War, it was rebuilt in several stages. The interior was painted white, which is now somewhat outdated and allows the architectural elements, in particular the multi-faceted, very high Gothic vaults, to have their greatest effect.

In his spatial installation OBERKIRCHE FORMEN, Jo Achermann subjected the church interior to a survey of typical forms and its atmosphere. In a process lasting several months, the renowned Swiss artist developed a colorful work that sensitively refers to the spatial conditions and invites the viewer on a journey of discovery through the church.

As you enter the church, the first thing you notice is a long yellow diaphanous strip of fabric hanging down from the vault in front of the altar, partially covering it on the right-hand side. This element makes the theme of the installation clear in a significant way: the artist is concerned with the interplay of light and color in space. When the sun shines through the windows on the east and west sides of the church, new light effects are created on the fabric depending on the weather. The gilded sections of the altar seem to condense within it and strive towards the heavens. The yellow becomes a metaphor for light,

that refers to something divine. In the altar house behind the baroque altar of the resurrection, a labyrinthine wooden installation was created that can be imagined as an entrance into the hidden holy of holies of a temple; the visitor steps out of the large space in its vastness into the concentrated proximity of the sacred and himself. Back in the central nave, the visitor discovers an altar table and a lectern under the crossing next to the pulpit, which are part of the installation. The artist used untreated softwood slats and joined them together in layers. This structure, which allows views into the chancel behind, gives the altar and lectern a light and modern appearance. The central elements in the central nave are surrounded by colored panels, most of which are mounted in the numerous wall niches of the side aisles and the choir aisle.

Here, Jo Achermann was inspired by elements he found in the church interior. The artist used squares, circles, hexagons and octagons made of wooden panels in different colors, creating monochrome surfaces that set intense color accents in the church and counterpoint its dominant white. The installation at different heights and rhythmically accentuated distances creates an animated structure that can be seen as an analogy to music. As you walk through the church interior, new vistas and individual fields emerge again and again, forming chords of color. It is just as appealing to trace the correspondences between the historical furnishings and the objects in the installation.

In the interplay of the diverse elements in the installation OBERKIRCHE FORMEN, the sacred space can be experienced in a new way and its historical and aesthetic dimensions are impressively brought into focus.