City Advent 2022:
Wonderfully salvaged – Museum of the Moon
As in previous years, the City Advent will take place in the Überwasserkirche.
The city pastoral art installation can be seen in the Überwasserkirche in Münster from November 25th to December 20th, 2022. This year, the focus is on a work by the internationally active British artist Luke Jerram, who, based on original NASA photographs, created a seven-meter-diameter copy of the moon that radiates a soft light.
The moon, we encounter it in the hymn by Matthias Claudius, "The moon has risen". In addition to the first, very well-known verse, the others refer to a sense of salvation at the end of days of suffering. The song points to a hidden reality that brings comfort precisely when it becomes dark, cold and quiet. Misery, illness, wandering and death are not concealed, nor are narrow-mindedness, pride and false security. All of this, however, is surrounded by a pleasant twilight, nature coming to rest, healing sleep and, last but not least, divine mercy.
In nature, the moon stabilizes the earth's axis and thus ensures a balanced, life-friendly climate; it provides light in the darkness, reflects the glare of the sun and transforms it into a mild, friendly light. For Christians, the symbol of the moon can refer to God, who determines our lives in his hidden way. We are already wonderfully protected in HIM. In the end, HIS light and HIS salvation will be visible to all. This has always been the hope that has determined ADVENT.
We cordially invite you to visit the Überwasser Church during Advent and take in the meditative art installation.
“We are thrilled to be welcoming the spectacle that is Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon”
This is how an announcement from the “Museum of the Moon” begins on the Internet.
We can only agree with this sentence, which refers to an exhibition in Bolton Abbey in England, here, where it is about an exhibition in Liebfrauen-Überwasser:
We are delighted to be able to present and view Luke Jerram's moon here at the centre of this year's City Advent. That we can see the moon as we have never seen it before, in the words of the English artist Jerram.
His moon is seven meters in diameter and displays 120 dpi detailed NASA images of the lunar surface. At an approximate scale of 1:500,000, each centimeter of the internally illuminated spherical sculpture represents 5 km of the lunar surface. The installation is a fusion of lunar imagery and moonlight. It is complemented by a surround sound composition by Dan Jones.
The moon, in its existence, in its rising and waning, has always fascinated us. It is the celestial body that stabilizes our earth's axis and thus ensures a balanced, life-friendly climate, gives us light by reflecting the light of the sun that has already set for us, transforming its glaring light into a mild, friendly light. In a gentle way, often hidden behind clouds, it determines our life on earth. Without it, this earthly life would not exist.
And why this installation during Advent?
In the German language and thus also in church songs, the moon and moonlight are associated with a feeling of security. In the evening peace and the gentle light of the moonlit night, we sense that there could be such a thing as good powers, whatever we call them. For Christians, this refers to the one who controls our lives in a hidden way.
We are already wonderfully protected in HIM. In the end, HIS light and HIS salvation will become visible to all people. In this way, the moon, in its gentleness and reliability, can become a sign of the hope that defines ADVENT.
City Advent also includes places where lights can be lit as a sign of thanks, intercession and hope. When Christ returns, everything will be fine. Christ, as shown in our installation above the sacrificial candles, still bears the wounds and traces of death, but already seems to be striving towards heaven. He has detached himself from the cross and is standing up. According to Christian belief, this rising up, this resurrection, is a cosmic event, something that has changed everything and will change everything forever.
A film is projected at the entrance to the church, which is intended to provide spiritual inspiration for the installation. The windows are covered with large banners. This serves on the one hand to create a twilight in which the moon can radiate its light. On seven banners, however, a verse of the song "The moon has risen" by Matthias Claudius is printed, supplemented by thematically appropriate photos. This song, which is from the Catholic hymn book and the Protestant hymn book, reflects a long history of Christian piety, which reflects human life, its needs and hopes when looking at the moon. In addition to the aesthetic and scientific aspects, a religious approach is made possible here. hospital
The moon has risen
Text:
Matthias Claudius
Music:
Abraham Peter Schulz
The moon has risen,
the golden stars shine
in the sky bright and clear;
the forest stands black and silent,
and rises from the meadows
the white mist is wonderful.
How is the world so quiet
and in the twilight cover
so trusting and so lovely
as a quiet room,
where you are in the misery of the day
oversleep and forget.
Do you see the moon there?
He is only half visible
and yet is round and beautiful.
That’s how some things are,
which we confidently laugh at,
because our eyes do not see them.
We proud children of men
are vain poor sinners
and don't know much;
we spin air webs
and seek many arts
and get further from the goal.
God, let us see your salvation,
do not build on anything transient,
not vanity makes us happy;
let us become simple
and before you here on earth
be pious and happy like children.
Finally want to be free from worries
take us out of this world
through a gentle death;
and if you have taken us,
let us come to heaven,
you are our Lord and our God.
So lie down, brothers,
in God's name;
cold is the evening breath.
Spare us, God, from punishment
and let us sleep peacefully
and our sick neighbor too.
