Niger et aurum
Niger et aurum ( Latin for "black and gold") refers to a gold-plated niche in the Marienbasilika in Gdansk . It is a conceptual work by Eric Mayen from 1997.
The location in the church was made available by the then prelate Stanisław Bogdanowicz.
The artist said of his work: “On May 6th, 1997 I painted the niche black. They could be seen as black for three days. On May 8th, on the day of Christ's ascension, I gilded the niche. ”The black should symbolize the original darkness, evil, death and time. The gold, on the other hand, stands for the sun, enlightenment, holiness and pure light. The gold-plated niche shows the victory of good over evil and is supposed to refer to the ascension of the risen Jesus .
Since January 2019, the niche is also resting place of the Mayor of Gdansk , Pawel Adamowicz , who scattered on him at the final of the Christmas Charity Great Orchestra ( Polish Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy is) died committed knife attack. The urn with the President's ashes was buried in the gilded niche.
niger et aurum is the first part of the aurum triptych , which also includes the following conceptual realizations: transformatio , a project by the twin cities Kerpen and Auschwitz (1999–2000) and discointidentia , a so-called “Hommage á Klem” in the Museum of the Lubusz Land, Zielona Góra (1997-1998).
