Was sich zeigt, wenn es sich verbirgt
- Kunstinstallation zur Fastenzeit, Kollegienkirche Salzburg
Artist
Date, Location
- 18 February 2026, Kollegienkirche, Salzburg, Österreich
Keywords
Installation, Screen Printing, Digitaldruck, Fastentuch
URL
Text
Within the framework of Lent 2026, the two side altars of the Kollegienkirche Salzburg will be completely covered by two oversized, intensely colored textiles. The artistic intervention takes up the Christian tradition of the Lenten veil—understood as a symbol of reduction, contemplation, and inner preparation for Easter—carrying it forward in a contemporary manner. Through the temporary veiling of the altars, the sacred space undergoes a palpable transformation: the familiar is withdrawn, lines of sight are interrupted, and the church interior is opened to new visual and spiritual experiences. Here, veiling does not mean concealment but opening—creating space for what eludes the direct gaze while simultaneously offering a window into another dimension. The works translate the altars into a contemporary pictorial space. In front of one altar, the circle within the rectangle appears as a symbol of the divine, the perfect, and the aspirational; it evokes an association with the globe as a form created by God. Opposite it, the square within the rectangle stands for the human, earthly level—limited, angular, and ordered. Both forms are tilted off-center, “off-kilter”, thus pointing to the tension between divine order and the human quest. The images operate on multiple levels, with permeabilities and overlays. Net-like structures, scribbles, and organic forms hint at something lying beneath that resists recognition. A veiling within the veil emerges. The pictorial surface becomes a membrane—a curtain that suggests depth without revealing it. A space within a space is created, a window into an Other—perhaps into the unknown, perhaps into something profoundly familiar. Within these multiple layers, the works touch on humanity’s eternal question: What comes after? What lies beyond what we can perceive and name? The images offer no answers. But they open a space for questioning, for wonder, for enduring the not-knowing. Through their three-dimensional effect, they create a new spiritual horizon within the church space—an outlook that simultaneously leads inward. The design leaves room for many interpretations—it invites viewers to reflect, rediscover, or distance themselves from the work through their own themes, world outlooks, and “world views.” Thus, the project understands itself not only as a formal intervention but as a spiritual contribution. It brings contemporary art, theological inquiry, and spiritual experience into dialogue; it introduces the worldly, the human, the colorful, and the contemporary into the sacred space and invites visitors to cross a threshold: the reverence often induced by the immaculate aura of Baroque church interiors—which can also be dissociating. Instead, one may recognize oneself here—in one’s own lovable insufficiency, in being “off-center,” in not being perfect. The work invites viewers to see the church with different eyes: not only as a place of devotion, but also as a space of personal resonance, of wonder, of doubt—and perhaps of a renewed interest in spirituality.
Material, Format
Siebdruck auf Leinwand, Digitaldruck auf Artist Tex, Andere
Dimensions
2 x je 9 x 13 m
Location
Address
- Kollegienkirche, Salzburg, Österreich
- Universitätsplatz 20
- 5020 Salzburg
- Österreich
Associated Media Files
Image#1