MITTWOCH
Sculpture in public, 300*300 cm, red flag, rod, 2016
“Mittwoch” eng. Wednesday explores the architectural-sculptural aspects of the church building in connection with art and examines the extent to which church history in its controversy can be a model or a stimulus for current social crises. I am interested in the question of the extent to which an allegedly “profane” day of the week, because of its historical origin, allows us to question the current perspectives.
The concept of revolution, which is the abrupt structural change usually brought about by force, is opposed to that of the Reformation. We are surrounded by historical knowledge, which is apparently no longer accessible, almost forgotten, and still determines our everyday life. A daily example in our globalized world is the seven-day week. The definition of a seven-day rhythm as well as the naming of the individual days can be traced back to the Babylonian week, which in turn builds on knowledge of the Sumerians.
The days of the week were named after the visible stars of the geocentric worldscape (sun, moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn) and worshiped at the time of naming as gods themselves. These names as well as the divine faith were adopted by the Greeks and Romans. In the fourth century, the Germans also took over this system and replaced the Roman divine names with their own. In the course of Christianization, attempts were made at a later date to repress these pagan names, but this was achieved only in the German-speaking world on Wednesday (ger. Mittwoch) and Saturday (ger. Samstag). Wednesday, the day of Mercury (latin Mercury, french mercredi, italian mercoledì, spanish miércoles), which was equated with the Germanic god Wodan (Odin). Wednesday (nl. Woensdag), with the German Mittwoch returning to the Roman Catholic influence.
The flag is a symbol of community in the traditional sense. As a tribal or token, flags have been known in the Orient since ancient antiquity. There they serve as a point of reference for soldiers and troops in battle. Today, the flag is a distinctive identifyer that is particularly relevant to nations. In a time of growing nationalism and fanaticism throughout the world, national as well as religious symbols are very popular. Abuse of power in the form of a rejection of different wisdom and thinking was and is a feature of religious, political, national or social associations and ultimately serves the purpose of consolidation. Perhaps this is also anchored in social homophilia (“Birds of a feather flock together.), wich is a human trait. This trait looks at a rapidly developing society and the accompanying globalization. The media is not the only source to observe that communities show unity under leadership of a flag.
The principle of subsidiarity, inspired by the Reformation, offers the means of mediating between small groups, from families to clubs to large communities (such as the European Union). This principle fails when the ideology of a community is understood as doctrine. The view of black and white, which often arises during holistic explanatory experiments seems to be rooted within us and is brought into focus through the absurdity of indwelling in the Mittwoch flag.
Reformers such as Zwingli and Calvin rejected the images as idolatry, citing on the Ten Commandments. Their interpretation of the second commandment essentially describes the unavailability of God. They feared that the images would replace God. One could understand the use of the flag in a transcendental sense as “idol worship,” it symbolizes the multitude of secular things which are supposed to serve as faith mediators, but which, under the Reformation, thwart the opening to true faith. Here one can look at the history of art, be closely interwoven with biblical narratives and church construction, a connection that has almost completely been replaced by the art market in contemporary art.
