Topoaversion

Das Lied von der Erde

Topoaversion

[The feeling that you do not wish to return to a place that you once loved and enjoyed when you know that it has been irrevocably changed for the worse]



Der den Trotz lehre, straft den Trotz? Der die That entzündet, zürnt um die That? Der die Rechte wahrt, der die Eide hütet, wehret dem Recht, herrscht durch Meineid?

—Erda, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Richard Wagner

We all know that the environment is changing. Is it changing for the worse? These days that just depends on how you look at it. The world will spin on, even if humankind is no longer part of the big blue merry-go-round. 

Against a cyan knitted backdrop, the once regal Sisyphus emerges, burdened by an imaginary rock woven from brown yarn and roving. Much like the mythical figure, we find ourselves ensnared in a self-imposed punishment, driven by our arrogance and the conviction we can triumph over all challenges. Each day, we laboriously drag the weight of our own creation towards a summit, only to discover the next dawn demands we recommence the journey.

We exist in a state of bewilderment, where certainties are now uncertainties. What was up has become down, and the arabesques, once pointing to the heavens, now also lead us towards the abyss. The oracle, embodied by Erda, whispers lamentations carried away by the wind: “Who has been thought conceit, punishes conceit? He who kindles achievement, is aggravated because of achievement? He who preserves the rights, who protects oaths; defies justice, reigns by perjury?”

Topoaversion, 2023

Needle-felted tapestry

250 x 120 cm

Knitted wool, yarn, roving on wool mix