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Pixels, Not Parables, for Cologne Cathedral's Stained Glass Window

RichterCologne.jpg
"a new stained-glass window in Germany's Cologne Cathedral [...] evokes technology and science, not religion and the divine. Contemporary German artist Gerhard Richter designed the 65-foot-tall work to replace the original, destroyed by bombs in World War II. As a starting point, he used his own 1974 painting 4096 Colors." - story; the window was fully revealed today, more images and a short German text here.

Comments (2)

Menlo Bob [TypeKey Profile Page]:

Glad to see you've turned on comments. Whether a stained glass window truely evokes one thing or another is probably best left the viewer. I suppose it is possible to be stirred by science but as for me pondering the imponderable resonates more richly than trying to factor in the collected works of imperfect knowledge.

The random nature of this art removes any sense of narrative, and it also seems to separate the viewer from the difficulties of humanity that have been more or less continuous and the same since recorded history began. So, maybe there is no comfort given here, as one might expect to find in an old cathedral. Yet the breaking from the past does give way to immensely pleasing fields of shimmering colors that — if one is in the right frame of mind — could lead one into dreamlike abstract universal thoughts that transcend the mundane. Makes me want to go and check it out in person, and see how it changes as the light shifts outside.

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