IntraFlaneur

                                                        images by Daniel Vogelsberg/mdr.de

German panoramic artist Yadegar Asisi is erecting a 32,000-square-foot,  360-degree image of the Amazon Rainforest in the Leipzig Gasometer, or gas holder—a cylindrical structure traditionally used to store and pressurize natural gas. It is set to be the largest panoramic image in the world. It’s certainly not Asisi’s first such undertaking. Some of his other successful works have included panoramas of Dresden, Mount Everest and Ancient Rome. However, to date, it represents his largest and most ambitious project. The image is the central component of what is to become an indoor environment complete with lights, sounds and even smells that will remind the visitor of an actual rainforest.

Last Summer, the 54-year-old  Asisi travelled to the Brazilian Amazon, documenting the scenery by sketching and photographing every last detail he could absorb, and recording the sounds of the forest’s many diverse animals. His purpose has been to reconstruct the environment as he perceived it and to inspire the same emotions and feelings he experienced in the general public. Asisi then returned to his Berlin studio to begin the weeks-long process of scanning his sketches and as many as 30,000 photographs, retouching and stitching them together. It is said to be so rich and massive that visitors may need the help of binoculars to view such tiny details as a caterpillar on a leaf or a parrot perched on a tree far off in the distance. Apparently, Asisi also likes to hide the occasional beer bottle in his panoramas, giving the viewer something extra and fun to look for, albeit the fact it’s not a real beer they’ll find.

The final components of the image are being printed in Lennestadt, Germany, where special printers have been working around the clock for weeks in order to produce 37 sections of printed polyester, each about 114 feet in length. The sections will then be stitched together by hand, a daunting process as every seam must be virtually invisible to the eye in order to preserve the flow of the scene. The show opens March 29 at the Panometer Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany, and will be accompanied by an exhibition featuring insects and other fauna from the region. For details visit their website here. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be an English version of the site as of yet, so you’ll have to learn german pretty quickly.

The following video is from earlier this year and features an interview with Asisi (also in German, and which I have lovingly and painstakingly translated for you!) and some scenes of his popular Rome panorama, and its eventual destruction.

TRANSLATION:

GIRL PAINTING: “Here we go!”

TEXT: “Persian drum ‘Dombak’.”

TEXT: “O-Tones, Yadegar Asisi. The artist destroys his work?

YADEGAR ASISI: “I’m not destroying the work. I’m saying goodbye to a piece of printed material. I didn’t paint this, it is, so to say, a reproduction—a work I spent two years on. And when it’s suddenly lying on the ground, it no longer has any value for me. Its value came from its installation, everything you see here. When you stand up there on the podium, on the same horizontal level, that’s the true value of the work. Now that we’re taking it down, I can say ‘keep it.’ But for what? To hang it again? If I were to hang it again, I’d do more work on it, because I see so much here now that I’d like to change. So I won’t hang it again. This beautiful bit of material has served it’s purpose and we should let it go in peace, so maybe it can serve some other purpose once it’s shredded.”

TEXT: “Amazon. A magical picture of nature. What will the viewer see?”

YADEGAR ASISI: “The viewer will see a landscape that, perhaps, could never exist. It’s a type of invented landscape, that will convince the viewer that it’s real, that he’ll think ‘I have seen this somewhere.’ But I have the right as the artist to construct the landscape in such a way that it incorporates many different facets at once. Because if you’re in the actual place, you will need to wander around for weeks in the forest in order to see all of these facets. They simply don’t exist all in one spot, but since I have only one image to work with, I can compromise it. This is to have the effect that from this one image, the viewer gains an understanding of the beauty and complexity of this bit of earth.  If this will actually work, I don’t know. It’s really a very big challenge. I myself am anxious to find out. And I’ll know more in that moment when the image is pulled up.”

TEXT: “O-Tone guests. What has surprised you?”

YOUNG MAN: “The tenderness with which this has been approached surprised me. I had imagined much more pomp.”

WOMAN IN GLASSES: “I was affected by the idea of its destruction, that it will never be seen again. That has made quite an impression on me. Thinking about it, however, and considering the way that Asisi has presented this, it seems like the logical thing to do. It should stick in your head. It’s important and it’s right not to hang the image again.”

MAN WITH DEEP VOICE: “It really demonstrates his personal philosophy, that one shouldn’t get too attached to these objects. But that one can have change and impact their inner impressions from the seeing itself. That was very pleasant.”

WOMAN WITH BLACK HAIR: “I did research this on the internet and read many negative things of people who said ‘Go ahead, destroy it, what do we care? We don’t know why you’re doing it and we don’t find it ok.’ And that’s how I became very interested in finding out his motives, and found them to be very convincing. What he said and how he explained the reasons for destroying the work. I found it neat.”

TEXT: “O-Tone guests, The Amazon-Panorama: What are your expectations?”

WOMAN WITH BLACK HAIR: “I have very many expectations that I’ll discover many things when I stand here again and look at the different facets of the image. Not just a bunch of greenery, but that one can recognize many different things, such as specific plants and animals.

MAN IN GLASSES: “I have the expectation that I’ll feel, as I do now that I’m standing in the middle of Rome, that I’ll feel like I’m standing in the middle of the Amazon.”

WOMAN WITH BLOND HAIR: “Hmmm…it is very green…it is…very woodsy…there are many small animals…it is very relaxing…and it is very motivating.”

MAN WITH DEEP VOICE: “I’ll associate it with the jungle. I’ve never been there…a lot of greenery, a lot of cricket and bird noises. But also a lot of water, a lot of strong colors…crocodiles, yes (chuckles)…that’s about the first things that come into my head spontaneously. I’m just gonna let myself be surprised and inspired and I’m very anxious to see it.”

MAN WITH MUSTACHE: “It will reveal the many layers and complexities and secrets of the rainforest. We will of course be lucky not to be subjected to the many dangers that have existed there, and still exists there. But of course, the beauty and the very many plants and sights that one can place into such an image should be something quite extraordinary.”

YOUNG MAN: “Um…muggy…and ‘itchy’ (in English)…itchy (in German)…and I expect that we’ll have to wade through deep mud.”

TEXT: “Rome 312, objects are covered.”

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