Skip to content

Albrecht C. J. Fürthner :
Alpha & Omega, the Bipolar Law

Back
Albert Fürthner, Alpha & Omega, Geras, 1996
© Matthäus Prandstätter
Albert Fürthner, Alpha & Omega, Geras, 1996
© Matthäus Prandstätter
Albert Fürthner, Alpha & Omega, Geras, 1996
© Matthäus Prandstätter
Geras, 1996
Hauptstraße 10, 2093 Geras

Information

The two granite rods with integrated stainless steel lenses bears the title 'Alpha & Omega, the Bipolar Law'. The artist sees it as an attempt to juxtapose the divine Unity present due to the Chorherrnstift with the duality of earthly life.

Geras, a town unting both a down-to-earth population and a strong intellectual tradition is a brutal example of the coexistence of contradictions. Lived coexistence which over time has given way to a certain harmony. This basic mood also informs the site designated for the sculpture: in the back the massive, high, all-enclosing convent wall, in the front the main square open and expansive, with the old fountain and a dominant 'imperial oak'. Intersected by streets and paths. The impressions of this very reduced totality limit the scope for the theme of this sculpture, which in this case, however, is to be seen as a positive factor. Yielding to a certain logic, the strong intellectual presence is countered by a ‘monument’ of ‘being human’. More precisely, the earthly antipode of divine unity, the bipolarity of our life. Thus ALPHA & OMEGA is an attempt to translate this primal problem of human existence into sculpture. A deep symbolism of stone and steel has been set as 44 x 44 in the ground plan. Four and four amount to the Gnostic number 8, the number of infinity. The height of the steles ends at 312. Three, one, and two are the numbers of the most holy Trinity, but three and twelve are also by themselves holy numbers. On a small granite ashlar right next to the stele one sees outlined in textual form the important oppositions of the theme such as cosmos (order) and chaos, time and eternity (non-time, omnipresence.)
(Albrecht C. J. Fürthner)

Images (4)

Albert Fürthner, Alpha & Omega, Geras, 1996
© Matthäus Prandstätter
Albert Fürthner, Alpha & Omega, Geras, 1996
© Matthäus Prandstätter
Albert Fürthner, Alpha & Omega, Geras, 1996
© Matthäus Prandstätter