EVEREST (ab 28. Januar 2012)

Yadegar Asisi’s 360°Panorama EVEREST in Leipzig carries you away to the roof of the world

Yadegar Asisi’s 360° panorama EVEREST, reworked and newly printed, brings the king of the mountains to the asisi Panometer Leipzig.  
Enjoy a breathtaking view of the mountain world of the Himalayas from the viewing platform. Mount Everest, 8848 metres high, towers above us from the “Valley of Silence”, 6000 metres above ground level. The impressive high mountain range surrounding it glows majestically around us, from pale blue to aquamarine, from snow white to deep black.

With his EVEREST panorama, Yadegar Asisi recreates the special spatial experience of high mountains, seemingly infinite. A conscious decision was made not to choose the summit as the viewing point of the panorama, but rather the high plateau which serves as the final base camp for all Everest expeditions, before the final ascent. In this way, Asisi creates distance, awakening a feeling of deep reverence for the highest mountain in the world.  

Accompanying exhibition – modern and traditional approach
In the accompanying exhibition, Yadegar Asisi presents Mount Everest in the view of the “modern” world and shows how it has been “conquered” in various climbing expeditions. Newspaper reports from the 20th and 21st centuries show the various different types of expeditions undertaken. Unfortunately, many of them were not quite as successful as that of Edmund Hillary, who was the first person to climb to the summit with his Tibetan guide, Tenzing Norgay, in 1953. This gives us an authentic impression of the various epochs in which the “conquests” of the king of the mountains were reported – along with a comment on the hubris of mankind and its failures.  

At the same time, Asisi gives visitors to the panorama an insight into the Far Eastern view of the “roof of the world”. Tibetan monks will be present at the asisi Panometer Leipzig for several weeks, working on a sand mandala, a symbol of the transience of time in Tibetan Buddhism. This Buddhist highlight will be completed by two stupas (Buddhist votive constructions), one of them specially made and consecrated in Leipzig, as well as several thangkas (scrolled paintings).

Research in the Himalayas
In 2002, Yadegar Asisi went to the Himalayas to carry out research for the panorama project. From sketches, drawings and a wealth of photographs of the roof of the world, the photorealistic 360° panorama was built up piece by piece in a combination of painting, photography, architectonic sketches and digital image processing. The first version was exhibited from 2003 to 2005 in the asisi Panometer Leipzig. Following a further research trip to the Himalayas, Yadegar Asisi has now produced a reworked, completed version of the panorama, which has been completely reprinted in Lennestadt.

Concept and Artistic Development: Yadegar Asisi
Music: Eric Babak
Curators: Prof. Dr. Ing. Niels Gutschow, Dipl.-Geol. Jochen Hemmleb
Exhibition Architecture: Yadegar Asisi, Mathias Thiel