Asisi Panometer – »8848Everest360°«
The pilot project
»8848Everest360°« – in honour of the highest mountain in the world
At a monumental size of 105 metres long and 35 metres high, Yadegar Asisi‘s 360° panorama “8848Everest360°” was a photorealistic simulation of the mountainous world of the Himalayas. From a viewing platform six metres above ground, the visitor had a breathtaking view of Mount Everest and the mountains surrounding it. This alpine world glowed in colours from the palest blue to aquamarine, from snow white to deep black.
Asisi’s main focus was not on the presentation of the individual summits. He was more interested in conveying the seemingly endless feeling of space created by such a high range of mountains as this. For this reason, Asisi made a conscious decision not to choose the summit of Mount Everest as his focal observation point, but the so-called “Valley of Silence”. This plateau serves as the last base camp for all Everest expeditions, before the final ascent. This enabled him to create distance, thus evoking a sense of deep reverence for the highest mountain in the world.
In 2002, Yadegar Asisi had visited the Himalaya region himself in order to find the ideal observation point for his picture, and also of course to experience the magical atmosphere of the place for himself. From sketches, drawings and digital photographs of the mountain landscape, and with the help of 3-D models made on the computer providing precise measurements of the mountain formations, the photorealistic panorama “8848Everest360°” was pieced together using a unique technique, a combination of painting and digital image processing.
»8848Everest360°« – The accompanying exhibition
“8848Everest360°”, at that time the largest 360° panorama in the world, was accompanied by an exhibition running all the way around the panorama, between the outside wall of the panoramic painting and the inside wall of the former gasometer. Asisi used the two resulting wall presentation surfaces for a two-way concept. At the interior side of the gasometer he presented the history of western Everest expeditions and ascents. With original film material, for example from the 1920s, he gave examples of individual expeditions that did not run quite so smoothly as the famous ascent of Hillary from New Zealand and his Tibetan escort Tenzing Norgay. These included the British venture surrounding the mountaineer George Mallory, who disappeared on Mount Everest in 1924. One of the highlights of the exhibition was an original tent pole used on this tragic expedition. Asisi also took the opportunity of criticising the modern industry surrounding climbing tourism.
The opposite wall focused on Mount Everest seen from a Far Eastern, Buddhist perspective. A mandala, made of coloured sand sprinkled onto a circular surface by five Indian monks, prayer stones engraved with characters and a stupa especially made and consecrated in Nepal for the exhibition were some of the highlights.
