19 October 2023 Thursday
From the Star Vengeance booklet:
7. The Timepiece of Humanity
The idea of the Timepiece of Humanity laid the foundation for the "Theory of Chronosomatics" by the architect and artist Stephen Lauf (b. 1956). Analysing the artistic tradition of the depiction of the Annunciation in the Renaissance era, Lauf corrected Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, combining the centres of the square and circle in which he is placed. In the author’s concept, the structure of the human body became a three-dimensional and symbolic model of the collective reality of all humanity—its past, present, and future.
Lauf’s work combines elements of architectural theory, art history, methods of the artistic avantgarde, and personal history. It is worth noting that the "Theory of Chronosomatics" has become a project for the author. He regularly updates the archive of his work dating from the late 1980s on the websites quondam.com and museumpeace.com.
Lauf’s exclusive attention to issues of historical chronography give him affinities with the other actors of the Star Vengeance project. Timepiece of Humanity conceptually resonates with the VOTIW* installation, which proposes the production of collective knowledge be seen as a bodily-symbolic, performative process. According to Lauf, the line of the human present on the Timepiece of Humanity is currently at the level of the ribcage. In the VOTIW* sign system this part of the body is symbolically equated with the letter W.
The Timepiece of Humanity is represented at the exhibition by an illustration from the original edition of the text, reproduced in wood. You can learn more about Stephen Lauf’s ideas by listening to an audiobook on headphones at the exhibition, as well as by reading his programme articles.
Earlier today, there were US missiles fired over the Red Sea not long after The Timepiece of Humanity went on display within Star Vengeance at GES-2 House of Culture in Moscow.
Quite a world stage right now.
I'd like to think, from this point forward, that The Timepiece of Humanity will, eventually and perhaps even swiftly, become a share of common knowledge throughout the plane of the present.
Star Vengeance GES-2 House of Culture Moscow 19 October 2023 - 21 January 2024
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