At the recent ACE conference I met up with Manfred Richter, a German Lutheran pastor involved with the Kunstdienst der Evangelischen Kirche der Union (Fine Arts Service of the Evangelical Church).
In a recent email, Manfred explained that the Kunstdienst was founded in 1928 in Dresden as the first protestant initiative in favour of contacting modern art and cooperating with contemporary artists. It continues to serve as a platform of meeting for artists from East and West Germany, including international contacts and symposia.
For the millennium the Kunstdienst decided to prepare a special project which would combine different dimensions as a) Contemporary Art in historical Church Architecture; b) Art and liturgy correlated; c) the churches belonging to the different Christian confessional families as an ecumenical sign; d) International horizons at least Europe and Asia, possibly related to the five Continents; and e) Temporary installations according to the liturgical year. Gabriela Nasfeter was invited to be the artist working on the project and she developed the concept of a textile installation involving a fabric pyramid suspended from the ceiling and filled with light.
Light Pyramids were then installed between 2000 and 2002 at churches in Berlin, Paris, Ulm, Wroclaw, London, Jerusalem, Stasbourg, Rotterdam, Istanbul, Armenien and Wismar. The discussions and agreements necessary to enable installations in so many different churches, demoninations and countries led to the formation of significant friendships and partnerships. So much so that Konrad Raiser, then General Secretary of World Council of Churches in Geneva, has referred to the Light Pyramid as “indeed a record of an ecumenical adventure” adding: “The ecumenical movement needs such impetus and inspiration”.
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