Photo by Peter Köster

One part of the four-meter-high sculpture stands in the medieval town of Lennep. Its antipode will be immersed into the South Pacific Sea. To realize this, H.O. Schmidt brought the heart of the work in Lennep to New Zealand close to the geographic antipode area.

Every human being is an antipode

This statement by the artist H.O. Schmidt is deliberately left open to inspire deeper reflection. The original meaning of antipode is a geographical one. In English, Antipode literally means counter-foot. Step by step, through this artistic action, the artist circles the philosophical weight of the antipode as a marker of place. He reflects on the art of opposition, on here and there, on individuality and human relations, identity and experience, on inside and outside.

With his statement, Every human being is an antipode, the artist expands the geographical gaze onto his counterpart by placing one foot in Lennep and setting the counter-foot on the other side of the Earth. In doing so, he consciously perceives his inner contradictions: the striving for unity in the experience of the world on the one hand, and on the other hand, its strangeness.

From a psychological perspective, the human soul oscillates in a permanent tension of inner opposites: reason and emotion, good and evil, and many others. In human relationships, every person experiences another human being as the counterpart. In this sense, the antipode is by definition a symbol of difference, individuality, but also of acceptance and mindfulness. It is equally a description of the state of our globalized, interconnected world, in which we are constantly confronted with opposites.

Journey to New Zealand

Thus, the journey to New Zealand and a possible encounter with the Māori becomes symbolic. The artist reveals the counter-world of indigenous peoples. Their world appears, from our perspective, as the antipode to technical and cultural heteronomy. The Māori live in harmony with the natural order.

Opposites unfold their truth only in relation to one another

An antipode is geographically the point on Earth that lies directly opposite another. While one place is bathed in daylight, its antipode is shrouded in night. Metaphorically, every human being is reflected in his or her opposite. The antipode is defined only through contrast. Does the self, then, only come to fulfillment in the other?

Time as a rotating sphere

It is an ancient dream of humankind to understand time. If one does not imagine time as a linear arrow with beginning and end, but rather as a rotating sphere, then every moment has its antipode. Day has night. Every summer has its winter, every birth its death, and every action its consequence. Rotation represents a cosmos of eternal recurrence and transformation. It mediates. Opposites are connected on the surface of the sphere. The image of time as a sphere suggests that opposites are equal in value and necessary. In this cycle, the antipode is not merely the opposite, but reveals itself on its journey through the opposites as a part of the whole.

Rotation as an existential principle of life

Rotation is not only a physical fact, but an existential principle, The head is round so that thought can change direction (Francis Picabia). Just as every rotation, every movement, every repetition, and transformation leads to new encounters, one experiences time in rotation as a dance. It stands in contrast to stagnation, which leads to death.

In turning, time is felt — moments that seem to contradict each other and yet prove to be one whole. What now appears foreign may later become part of the self, one side or the other of the same sphere. In the midst of this revolving movement, the traveling artist sees himself mirrored in his antipode.