Museikon_1_2017

174 | Henrik von Achen
Fig. 11: Each background was a dusty transparent blue.
Crucifixion on glass, painted by a painter from Nicula in 1827.
mystery and intensity to the atmosphere. None of these two
videos had sound, since silence was an important part of
the character of the exhibition. A third video showed a
close up of an old woman praying, unaware of being filmed
– her voice barely audible, again against a dark background
in order not to break up the overall character.
The iconostasis
As soon as it was clear that the exhibition would display
icons from an iconostasis, namely four icons painted by
Iacov from Răşinari in the 1740s, an imperial door by his
son, Gheorghe, and a late 18 th century crucifix from an
iconostasis, it was decided that the exhibition structure
should encompass an abstract version of an iconostasis.
(Fig. 15) This was, obviously, a logical way to present the
icons, and in its abstract form it did fit into the overall
structure. In the exhibition it presented the icons in an
instructive way, showing how the six icons were situated
in the iconostasis. (Fig. 16)
In a communicative perspective, however, the main task
was to explain the function of the iconostasis in an Orthodox
church interior. To visitors from Western Europe the
iconostasis seems a strange wall barring access of the
faithful to the sanctuary. In the exhibition in Bergen we
did not attempt to go into any depth concerning the development
of the iconostasis and its iconographic arrangement,
but to give an idea of its function in a relational
context. How could it be explained as something different
from simply a decorated wall blocking off view of and
access to the sanctuary - a wall effectively separating
clergy and people? Perhaps this was an example of how
the requirements of an exhibition, the need to explain to a
public, sparks new thoughts and thus initiate research, or
at least point to something which needs to be researched
in more depth? (Fig. 18)
Since a true icon makes the prototype present, it is a
subject as much as an object; you are seen by the icon as
much as you see it. Each icon is basically rendering Holiness
derived from The Holy One, God. Seeing an icon, kissing it
and bowing before it, articulates the relationship between
God and the believer. Heaven and earth are connected,
united as it were, through Holiness. Thus an encounter
takes place. As a wall of icons, then, the iconostasis is a
system of openings, of doors, through which God and
man meet and converse. Therefore, the text written and
mounted on the mdf wall in the area of the iconostasis,
using beige letters in Papyrus font on three transparent
acrylic plates, did not present the iconostasis as a barring
wall decorated with icons, but as a system of openings:
Plate i
The iconostasis is the wall which in Orthodox churches
separate the sanctuary with the altar from the nave
where the congregation stands. Its most important task is
to visualize the relation between God and man. With its
doors, carvings and icons, the iconostasis conveys the fact
that Heaven and earth are connected, stating a connection
between the reality of God and this world. The wall
is perforated, riddled as it were, as each and every icon
creates a connection between the reality of God and the
faithful – between heaven and earth. So, it is not so much
a wall keeping people out, but rather a ‘complex of doors
through’ which the Divine may reach out to us – and we to
the Divine. It is communication, a sign of hope.
Plate ii
The subject matter of the icons is always Holiness, they
depict the world seen from the perspective of the Gospel.
Motifs may be saints, prophets, the history of the Church,
or other events from the history of salvation. God is the
foundation and source of all holiness, and the history of
salvation is the story of the relation between God and
man, proclaiming the glory of God and his will to redeem
mankind. Hence, the iconostasis is not primarily a barrier
keeping the congregation away from the altar, but a
communication with Holiness – at the same time a picture
of the Divine reality and a door to it.
Plate iii
The iconostasis divides the sanctuary (Heaven) from the
nave of the church (earth). It has doors which are used during
the liturgy that clergy may go into the sanctuary or out into
the nave. Through the liturgy, and in everything preached
by prophets, martyrs and saints, believers encounter Divine
reality as it has been revealed to and proclaimed by the
Church. Here, the patriarch Germanos of Constantinople
stated in 715, heaven and earth meet. In a special way
God is present in the church interior with its individual
devotional practices and in the liturgy of the people of God.
In addition to these three text plates introducing the
iconostasis, there were short texts informing visitors about
the painter, the date and the provenance of each icon.
To Norwegian visitors, the exhibition was recognized as
a ‘total experience’, where the visual presentation promoted
a meditative mood, and a will to focus on each icon as
an expression of faith rather than a masterpiece from the