Public Art Project: New sanctuary and memorial for a Parish Church, Mauthausen
Procedure: Invited art contest, 1. price
Realisation: 2001
Striking redesign at the Parish Church Mauthausen
Since the past few months, the Mauthausen Parish Church unveils a newly conceived sanctuary after the plans of Viennese artist Katarina Matiasek. Contrasting the baroque richness of the dark historic presbytery, her freestanding altar and ambo consistently display a straightforward design in gleaming white.
'The theme of the ribbon serves me as a liturgical communication paradigm', the artist describes her forming deliberations. This white ribbon - typified mainly in the altar and lectern for readings and sermon - however is open. As a thread of memory it reflects the difficult past of the site and also alludes to the band of the river Danube as a stream of life. The materials used are wood and lacquer with light dispersing pigments.
THREE TIMES BLESSED ARE THEY, AND MORE, HELD BY AN UNBROKEN BOND (Horace, Odes 1:13)
In the course of this redesign for worship at the church consecrated to St Nicholas, the issue of its proximity to the former concentration camp Mauthausen was also addressed. For this, Katarina Matiasek realised a memorial on the south wall of the sanctuary that the artist refers to as 'Light Stairs'. This installation involves and reinterprets an existing Via Dolorosa painted in Nazarene style that was originally mounted throughout the nave as well as a Memento Mori stone slab from the 16th century by Hans Egkenfelder.
Its 14 granit steps refer to the incidents around the so called 'Death Stairs' of the former Mauthausen concentration camp stone quarry. The single stone marks carved in Mauthausen granit hand-mined there identically penetrate the south church wall, their ascending path opening up between a condensed Via Dolorosa. The 14th and last step is mounted just below a window aperture that immerses the space in a cone of light.
Diocesan Fine Arts Council Linz, 2002
dioezese-linz.at
photos © Franz Reischl/ Kunstreferat Dioezese Linz
Procedure: Invited art contest, 1. price
Realisation: 2001
Striking redesign at the Parish Church Mauthausen
Since the past few months, the Mauthausen Parish Church unveils a newly conceived sanctuary after the plans of Viennese artist Katarina Matiasek. Contrasting the baroque richness of the dark historic presbytery, her freestanding altar and ambo consistently display a straightforward design in gleaming white.
'The theme of the ribbon serves me as a liturgical communication paradigm', the artist describes her forming deliberations. This white ribbon - typified mainly in the altar and lectern for readings and sermon - however is open. As a thread of memory it reflects the difficult past of the site and also alludes to the band of the river Danube as a stream of life. The materials used are wood and lacquer with light dispersing pigments.
THREE TIMES BLESSED ARE THEY, AND MORE, HELD BY AN UNBROKEN BOND (Horace, Odes 1:13)
In the course of this redesign for worship at the church consecrated to St Nicholas, the issue of its proximity to the former concentration camp Mauthausen was also addressed. For this, Katarina Matiasek realised a memorial on the south wall of the sanctuary that the artist refers to as 'Light Stairs'. This installation involves and reinterprets an existing Via Dolorosa painted in Nazarene style that was originally mounted throughout the nave as well as a Memento Mori stone slab from the 16th century by Hans Egkenfelder.
Its 14 granit steps refer to the incidents around the so called 'Death Stairs' of the former Mauthausen concentration camp stone quarry. The single stone marks carved in Mauthausen granit hand-mined there identically penetrate the south church wall, their ascending path opening up between a condensed Via Dolorosa. The 14th and last step is mounted just below a window aperture that immerses the space in a cone of light.
Diocesan Fine Arts Council Linz, 2002
dioezese-linz.at
photos © Franz Reischl/ Kunstreferat Dioezese Linz