Project “Absolutely Spring”, 2006/07

A reflection on the relationship between man and nature, “Absolutely Spring” was selected in a 2006 competition sponsored by the company F. Hoffmann - La Roche AG, Basel, and the architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, to adorn the pharmaceutical company's newly constructed biotechnology plant with art. The work extends over all eight floors of the building and includes computer-generated images printed on aluminum panels in the interior as well as computer-generated videos shown on plasma screens distributed across the entire facade.

The work is concerned with the metaphysics of matter and the duality of our approach to nature. As an artificial metaphor and in allusion to the Genesis concept, the process of growth is meant to show that the underlying principle of this world is movement. Matter's continual change of shape is manifested in an infinite diversity of things. Nature is caught up in an ongoing metamorphosis. We can intervene in this system and thereby help to shape reality. We are simultaneously located inside and outside of nature, and this duality between the intellectual and the emotional level defines our existence.

Text: Maya von Moos

Title: Absolutely Spring
Year: 2006
Length: 3:00 min.
Technique: computer-generated in 3D, with sound, 16:9, PAL
Edition of 5