After Tiepolo - Myriam Thyes - Contemporary Art

At the Würzburg Residence, Thyes recorded the famous 18th century ceiling fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Gyratory video sequences are the basis for an animated collage. Tiepolo’s catholic sky/heaven is slowly filled with planets, stars, and galaxies – they substitute the allegoric figures. Science and technology are developing, human production on earth increases: High-rises and power plants replace Tiepolo’s merchants, artists, and craftspeople. The buildings reach to the sky and hide the view on it. The christian and eurocentric view of the world is enlarged, enriched, updated. But our knowledge of the infinite universe won’t lead to a broader mind or serenity, as long as we – living complicated lives in modern civilizations – focus only on ourselves.

Images

Thanks to: Guido Magnaguagno, Visarte Zürich, the Bavarian Palace Department at the Würzburg Residence. Astronomical images: Courtesy NASA / JPL-Caltech.