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20.06.2009 - 21.06.2009

Light is one of the greatest of human experiences, in days of yore encircling wonder, prayer and adoration. It is able to awaken a transcendental inspiration all of its own, and thus is especially suitable as a medium for filling a sacral space.

In this “Year of Religious Culture” and on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of the Bishopric of Pécs, this multimedia (laser-video-music) show organised within the framework of  Pécs – Ars GEometrica 2009 sets out from Pécs’s special features. It is most fitting that the Crypt of the Basilica should be the venue of an event demanding such a variety of conditions but of a character worthy of such a sacred place, situated around the rich collection of Early Christian remains and Romanesque foundations of Pécs, once the most important settlement of the province of Pannonia and now a World Heritage site. The public enter the inner space of the crypt, the inside of a changing light space, and become part of the light environment. The image world of the light environment is constructed around the world of Christian symbolism. Following the spirit of the location we encounter the motifs from Early Christianity to the Romanesque. Early Christian frescoes and the forms of Romanesque stone carving take shape in the meshed, translucent, restrained metamorphosis. The basis of the spectacle is created by the rich motifs of the Middle Ages: Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, the Saints, the archangels and the lions, the decorative palmettes and ribbons. Laser light forms and video installations enrich the spectacle as it comes to life before the spectators, formed from images that appearing in each other give each other meaning in glowing strips of light.  The defining basis for the musical montage accompanying the light play is the world of Gregorian melody, complemented by folksong, excerpts from Franz Liszt’s Dance of Death and the church music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Attila Csáji (b.1939): Munkácsy Award-winning artist, president of the International Kepes Society, member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known internationally as one of the first initiators of laser for artistic purposes. Participant and curator of numerous international exhibitions, after Pécs - Ars GEometrica 2009 he will be presenting his work at the New York Biennale Art 2009.

Open:
20th Saturday 1-3 and 6-12 PM
21st Sunday 1-3, 4-5.30 and 7-10 PM