Sommersemester 2010,

Guest Lecture

Wednesday, 30 June, 10-12 a.m., lecture room C.105Prof. Katerina Athanasiou

Athens School of Fine Arts / Greece“Light as it was in Ancient Greece” or “One who followed Mr. Grammatikakis in all his travels”.Real time passes continuously, ruthlessly. Coming face to face with light is dangerous. But I could not resist. Even though I knew I was leaving myself defenseless to its charms. I winded my clock, trying to break time up into tens of faces and landscapes of the world, until it didn’t exist, so I could look into the silence of the deep night and feel its presence directly. Light comes from very far away. From a space where there is no space and a time where there is no time. Since then, it enfolds the world and gives clarity to its every expression.

Here in Greece, light’s lucidity determines the character of the landscape and our spiritual endeavours. Objects seem to emit light as if it is coming from within.

Light shapes and gives clarity. Furthermore, the importance of light is highlighted by a beautiful image from Cosmogony: “From the Night and Silence came Chaos, from Chaos and Night Eros, from Eros the light and from the light the first generation of gods”.