Like Fish in Water
Video Installation at the apse of Moritz Church
Augsburg, Germany, 04/02/09 - 04/04/09
Concept and and film by Stefanie Sixt, sixt sense
Camera: Carl Finkbeiner
Background
Water is the "par excellence" symbol of life cycle. The beginning of a river (riverhead) bears the end (river mouth). Water changes from the fluid condition to tvapor, then rains back down on earth to accumulate again. It is life's main resource.
Water has a strong mythologic meaning: In Christianity, baptism is a symbolic death of the human spirit by water, to invite the holy spirit. The spring of Lourdes is said to have healing energy. 67 miracle healings were acclaimed by the christian church. In the islamic believe the ritually ablution precedes the prayer.
In India people get a drop of the Ganges water in their mouth as soon as they are born, and when they die. To take a bath in the Ganges absolves people from sins.
On a symbolic level water corresponds to unconsiousness, the retrieval to deep inner truth.
Fish
One of the last uncharted areas of earth is the sea with its seamingly endless surface and deep: An ecological system that is extremely endangered. The deeper into the sea, the more fragile fish are.
Communication within a fish swarm has not been explored yet. What makes them turn all at once, like tied together by an invisible string?
Fish Symbol
The fish symbol is known as a motive of the Early Christian Art. It is one of the oldest means of identification for Christians to each other. The word for fish in Greek is "ICHTHYS", says "Iesus Christos Theos Yos Soter" (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Preserver).
Beneath that fish is a symbol for the will to reunite with the unconciousness, the body of the fish stands for the wish to get back into the womb, "the prison of desperation". Only if humans are grown up to what they really are, they can become a true Christian (a single personality, interpretation of book of Jona by Drewermann).
In terms of astrology the fish is the end of the journey through the zodiac. The energy of fish dissolves from material. It´s a very sensible sign, born by ambivalence between optimism and pessimism. In China fish is a symbol for wealthiness.
Triptych
The composition of three screens like a triptych suggests the representation of christian motives at the apse.
Light
The light reflections by the mirror pieces remind of the ocean surface, an image for spirituality.
Audio
The audio collage mixes genuine water and animal sounds with electronic sounds and ambient noises. The border between real and artificial gets porous, electronical seems to be organic and vice versa.
Message
Our water and seas are extremely endangered. With this installation i want to point to the beauty, diversity and uniqueness of the ocean. The viewer is lead into a strange, fascinating world, where he only can be a visitor, not a resident.