ETERNA

Series “ETERNA”

The Architecture of Duration: A Manifestation of Time

I. Silentium

Layering Presence

The title ETERNA (The Timeless) defines the conceptual framework of the series: it signifies a state beyond measurable time, where the enduring triumphs over the ephemeral. The series is not intended as the depiction of a fleeting moment, but as a circular process aimed at a constructive layering of time. This approach points far beyond the ephemeral and articulates a longing for the ultimate and absolute presence — Silentium. Within the specific methodology of multiple exposure, the work matures directly into the finished image; layers emerge that can be experienced as subliminal condensation and profound, existential permanence.

II. The Zero Point of Measurable Time

The composition is driven by a pulsating geometry. The pictorial structure is largely held in a dominant red, from which concentric green circles emerge. The innermost of these circles encloses the energetic center: the clock face without hands. The latter is a conscious reference to the film director Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) and his work “Wild Strawberries”: the clock without hands marks the exit from measurable timing and the entry into a pure, supra-temporal presence. The image is a deliberate excerpt of an illustrated reality: the circles are not trapped within the frame but extend mentally beyond the image boundaries into infinity.

III. The Vertical Impulse

In the liminal zone between the pictorial space and the hidden exterior, the human figure remains within its existential ellipse. It is the causal anchor point that dwells permanently around the energetic center. Suspended between the physical step into the unknown and the spiritual backward glance toward the ascending stele – in respectful homage to the Prismatism of the Gelmeroda Church series by Bauhaus artist Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) – the figure defines its orbit of interrelationships. Within this inner monumentality, the very essence of the depiction manifests: the stele is not a mere structural element, but a vertical impulse reaching into infinity, evoking a transcendent presence.

IV. The Wheel of Recurrence

The dramaturgy of ETERNA follows the logic of the Kāla-Chakra, the “Wheel of Time”. Time is perceived as a self-contained system in which energy never flows at a constant rate but oscillates in strength and direction. The reality of the work manifests in a cyclical pulse: within the sequence of images, color and contour lose their stability to regain presence in the backward movement toward the origin. In the center of the series, the position of the image tilts slightly, acting as an energetic turning point. It is through the overall composition of the image that time is suspended; it is here that true insight occurs. In the condensation of layers, duration finds its supra-temporal essence within Silentium. The deliberate tilt of the composition lends the natural kinetic energy to the timeless rotation.

V. Manifesto of Duration

In correspondence with Feininger’s prismatic composition, theoretical time-reckoning is replaced by the immediate experience of durability. In summary, the series ETERNA can be read as a visual archaeology of enduring presence: a quest for the ultimate moment, in which the temporal recedes behind the essence. This stance finds a deep resonance in the philosophy of the writer Hermann Hesse (1877–1962), who wrote in his work “Siddhartha”:

“Nothing was, nothing will be; everything is, everything has essence and presence.”