Michaela Christiane Wiegele, Nötsch, Vienna, freelance, painting

CROSS INSTALLATION 2019
Klagenfurt Cathedral

by Michaela Christiana Wiegele

with the participation of the artist Alois Hechl (glass basin), the artist Martina Nikolić (candles) and the master carpenters Hans Haller, Rene Rupnig (assembly)

Michaela Christiana Wiegele, Klagenfurt Cathedral | ©Fatzi

Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). The squaring of the circle forms the shape of the Greek cross, which expresses the cosmic dimension of the Christ. The circle as the unity of the complementary polarity principle is reflected on all levels - the gross (material) and the subtle (spiritual-mental), and, as Jesus testifies, permeates the entire cosmos.

This cross consists of 5 parts and the intersection of the diagonals in the square center piece results in a center and, as it were, a movement from the inside to the outside, symbolized by the flowing rays that flow outward like the sun in the arms of the cross.
The "iconic" blue-tinged cross would like to invite you to contemplate inside yourself, so that the viewer can linger in a contemplative gaze. The cross as a cosmic dimension can also be found in people and can be experienced joyfully and renewed through the Christian prayer of the heart.

The physical reality manifests itself through the four elements earth, water, fire, air, and it can be grasped in both gross and subtle matter. So we find in water the breeding ground and the matrix for all life on earth, and in fire the warmth to bring life to germination. On a spiritual level one can see the water as the divine mother, the source, the love without which a life is not possible and see in the fire the aspect of the holy spirit.
Genesis says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; but the earth was desolate and confused, darkness lay over the primordial flood and God's spirit hovered over the water ”(Gen 1: 1–2).

The squaring of the circle is reflected in the circle of the water basin and the fire candle arms and can serve the person who is working on his spiritual birth - in the old symbolism of purification and transformation of the old person. Lent can thus be experienced in the quiet of inner contemplation as a joyful, exultant time and culminates with Easter in the new, awakened person.

Michaela Christiana Wiegele