FROM MARSH SPIRIT TO AN ISLAND IN TIME

The idea of an Earthsign was kindled in the minds of the responsible individuals at the airport. Together with Karl Schlamminger, a second attempt was begun in 1991. My suggestion arose from the figure-of-eight, the symbol of infinity. With a wooden comb, I formed the first attempts from curving walls. A furrowed symbol that reflects the independent and rhythmical power of the Earth and stands in deliberate contrast to the technology of the airport. Parallel walls of gravel - the massed voices of the stones - circle around two fixed points and flow off into sinuous bands. The arrangement of the furrows has a tempo all its own. The deep furrows and sloping walls mirror the flow of time: a slowly wandering play of light and shadow in the sun, vague spaces vanishing in the mist, soft and silent lines in the snow. Rainwater will accumulate in the basins of the furrows, reflecting the fleeting clouds. It is an outpost for patience,

a place without a practical goal, a poetic space. This place, entered only by light and shadows and the fructifying wind, shall be an admonishing

answer to the functionalism of technology: AN ISLAND IN TIME.

Christoph Vitali, in his speech at the ceremony celebrating the completion of the Earthsign:

... The intervention is a harmonious, calming one which seeks to make peace with a natural environment that has been martyred by human busy-ness. At the same time, it also seeks to interrupt the routine thoughts of the people who see it from the windows of airplanes. It wants to make us think twice, to ask themselves whether our restless mobility really makes sense, truly gives our lives new possibilities, genuinely directs new powers and energies to us. Thus, as its creator says, the Earthsign is AN ISLAND IN TIME, a peaceful island for time itself in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the big airport. The Earthsign’s parallel earthen furrows generate a field of energy: by day and night, in sunshine and rain, summer and winter. It lies in the landscape like a huge musical clef and asserts its quieter tones against the thunderous recoil of the jet engines, tries to bring them into harmony and vibration ...

       The Earthsign is built from the gravel that was already present on this piece of land. The overlying humus was pushed aside and redistributed across the adjacent field. To preserve the biological balance, nothing was added nor was anything removed from the construction site. Only

a rearrangement. Each year, the field which surrounds the Earthsign will be planted with a different crop, thus giving it a new coat of color whose appearance will constantly change along with the changing seasons.

       On May 17, 1995, during a nighttime ceremony to celebrate its completion and accompanied by a spectacular time-dance by Howard Fine, the Earthsign AN ISLAND IN TIME was surrendered to the wind and to time itself.

       The total area of the parcel of land is approximately 12 hectares. The Earthsign is 270 meters long and 170 meters wide. Its furrows are 3.40 meters deep. Its walls rise at a 40° angle. An imaginary line connecting its two midpoints is oriented along a north-south axis.