Neustift
Benjamin Tomasi makes us an offering of (self-)reflection, preferring certain elements full of symbolism such as salt or moss, using different materials, staging light and shadow and sound. But like an experimental arrangement, it is up to the observers themselves as to which references they wish to create, with what they wish to get involved. The artist does not provide answers, and thus he refers us back to ourselves. From the ceiling on the ground floor hangs a colorful rope bathed in light on which salt crystals form. The artist provides several possible interpretations: the color, for instance, is reminiscent of the Baroque collegiate church, the salt of an existential moment, of the vanitas, the unequal pair of beauty and decay, the twist of a strand of DNA, to name just a few. Proceeding further up to the next floor, one is received by a moss carpet which runs around through the Chapel of St. Michael. In the center then darkness, a vague source of light, a space installation, and a mantra-like sound. Tomasi has created a space which can be foreseen, sensed, and above all experienced with all of the senses. In this work, he picks as a central theme the most internal: a person, but also a monastery, an orientation of belief.
text: Susanne Barta
