Menora/Inventur

When Heinrich Klotz started the collection of the Centre for Art and Media Technology in 1989, »Menora/Inventur« was the first work that the art historian acquired for the collection. This steel video sculpture by the Czech-German artist Michael Bielicky combines archaic pictorial traditions and modern technology in a particularly impressive way. On Bielicky's seven-armed candelabrum (= menorah), which is one of the most important religious symbols of Judaism, small tube TVs are enthroned instead of seven candles, which silently show synchronously flickering flames. The image is not transmitted via a cable, but by means of antennas on the monitors, which project parallel into the sky - the transmitter, however, remains hidden during the transmission process. In this way, Bielicky not only subtly visualises immaterial information streams with "Menorah/Inventory", but at the same time questions the relationship between religion and technology, as well as their status in the media age.