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Blaues Wasser

Augmented Reality Art & Established Artworks
 

Blaues Wasser

Kunsthaus Zürich emphasizes that artists are important interpreters of artworks and open up new perspectives. Following this viewpoint we show that Augmented Reality Art can inspire additional interpretations of established physical artworks.

Gerhard Knolmayer created first digital supplements to museal art at documenta 15 in 2022, based on metaspheres created by Sarah Montani and APTIQ. The most impressive extension is a video based on Jonathan Borofsky’s "Man Walking to the Sky," which was presented 1992 at documenta 9.

Blaues Wasser

Unknown artist:
Statue di Pugilatore,
Mont'e Prama
(ca. 800 BC)

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Should we believe in Geoengineering as technological shield against Global Heating?" (2023)

This museum also presents obviously suffering Statuette di Devoti, found at Guspini in Sardinia. Augmenting the heated globe in this environment suggests that these individuals may be suffering from the effects of global heating.  
 

Unknown artists:
Statuette di Devoti, Guspini (ca. 3rd century BC)

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari

 

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

 

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Suffering from Global Heating" (2023)  

Mary has often been depicted as suffering. A particularly beautiful sculpture by a Franconian artist from the 16th century is on display at the Kunstmuseum Basel. In the years to come, her suffering could also be due to destroyed living conditions.

Unknown Franconian artist:
Maria (early 16th century)

Kunstmuseum Basel

 

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

 

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Suffering because of future living conditions" (2024)  

 

The Belvedere in Vienna owns 18 enigmatic sculptures by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, which were created at the end of the 18th century, and is displaying some of them for several years.
 

The sculpture shown here is presented in the Wien Museum with the title "Die Einfalt im höchsten Grade" ("Simplicity in the highest degree"). Guess why Gerhard Knolmayer was tempted to add the Climate Sphere in front of this object.

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt:
"Die Einfalt im höchsten Grade" (Character Head 9)(after 1770)

Wien Museum

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Photo, Print and Video:
Gerhard Knolmayer: 
"Global Warming Denier" (2024)  

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (nach 1770) Die Einfalt im höchsten Grade.JPG

The Climate Sphere can also be used to augment other Character Heads by Messerschmidt that are on display at the Belvedere.

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt:
"Ein absichtlicher Schalksnarr" (Character Head 37)(after 1770)

Belvedere
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer: 
"With good humour I will survive!" 2025)

IMG_7560 Messerschmidt Nr 25.jpg

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt:
"Ein Erhängter"(Character Head 25)(after 1770)

Belvedere

Photo: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Being an activist is dangerous"
(2025)

It is often assumed that the expulsion from Paradise was the result of Eve offering Adam an apple.

From a feminist perspective, however, the decisive mistake could be seen as giving men the earth and, as a result, extensive world domination.

Lucas von Cranach the Elder:
Adam and Eve in Paradise – The Fall of Man (1533)

Staatliche Museen in Berlin, Gemäldegalerie /
Albertina


Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

 

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Did Eve offer Adam an Apple or the World?" (2025)  

Arnold Böcklin suggested a mask to Kunstmuseum Basel with a facial expression somewhat similar to Messerschmidt's sculptures referenced above.

Arnold Böcklin:
"Draft for the Sixth Mask on the Garden Façade of Kunstmuseum Basel" (1871)

Kunstmuseum Basel

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"What a nasty surprise!" (2024)  

Several works of art depict women who are more concerned with global issues than with their partners' immediate desires. We show a few examples. 

Friedrich von Amerling:
"Die drei köstlichsten Dinge" (1838)

Wien Museum

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Don't forget, the world is also very important" (2024)  

Arnold Böcklin:
"Lovers in Front of a Shrubbery" (ca. 1865)

Kunsthaus Zürich

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Concern for the World is more important now" (2024)  

IMG_8783 Viotti.jpg

Giulio Viotti:
"Idyll at Thebes" (1872)

Museo Revoltella -
Galleria d’Arte Moderna
, Trieste

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Photo: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"The young lady is interested in world crises, but may also be interested in other activities" (2024)  

The sculpture "L'Âge d'airain" (1875/76) by Auguste Rodin is exhibited, among others, at the Kunsthaus Zürich. Rodin promoted the work’s multiple interpretations, stating, "There are at least four figures in it." One of these interpretatione is that the sculpture depicts a suspended moment of human awakening to suffering.
 

If the sculpture is augmented by the heated globe, the man's reaction can be interpreted as a desperate awakening about the effects of the climate crisis.

Auguste Rodin:
"L'Âge d'airain" (1875/76)

Kunsthaus Zürich

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Painful Awaking in Climate Crisis" (2023)  

Global warming leads to higher sea levels and endangers coastal regions. And even the sea gods are obviously not coping well with the rising seas caused by the melting of the ice masses.

Max Klinger:
"Meergötter in der Brandung" (1883/84)

Hamburger Kunsthalle

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

 

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer: "That's too much, even for gods of the sea!" (2024)

While the Leopold Museum in Vienna has important artworks by Gustav Klimt on permanent display, the following painting was only on show in 2024 as part of a special exhibition of the Vienna Insurance Group's collection.

Gustav Klimt:
"Half-length portrait of a woman with hand on her forehead" (1884)

Leopold Museum

​(Special exhibition of collection by the Vienna Insurance Group 2024)

 

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Why didn't we realize this earlier?" (2024)  

One of our descendants is concerned about the state of the Earth that we have left behind. He will have no room in his heart for our generation.

 

Magnus Enckell:
"Boy with Skull" (1893)


Finnish National Gallery Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki / Albertina

 

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"What a legacy you have left us!" (2025)  

Edvard Munch’s oil painting "The Scream" is world-famous. In our composition, we augmented one of his watercolor lithographs by the Climate Sphere.

Edvard Munch:
"The Scream" (1895)

PoMo, Trondheim / Leopold Museum

 

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Climate activist crying out for attention" (2025)  

Three wise women mourn because so many climate policy projects were shut down in 2025.

20251212_161239095_iOS.jpg

George Minne:
"The Three Holy Women at the Tomb" (ca. 1896)


Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent / Albertina

 

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"We are deeply saddened by the current developments" (2025)  

The famous Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler was well connected and a member of both the Vienna and the Berlin Secession.

Ferdinand Hodler: "Der Tag" (1904)

Kunsthaus Zürich

Metasphere creation: Gerhard Knolmayer, Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer: "Will esotericism help?" (2024)
 

At the same time, Swiss photographer Frédéric Boissonnas is also exploring occult methods.

François-Frédéric Boissonnas:
"The Dancer Madeleine G. dances under Hypnosis" (1904)

Albertina / Leopold Museum

Metasphere creation: Gerhard Knolmayer, Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Photo: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Who else needs to be hypnotized to realize the seriousness of the global warming?" (2025)

IMG_6660 Hypnose.jpg

Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kandinsky were close friends with the artist couple Alexej von Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin. The portrait shown here was created during a visit by Jawlensky to Münter's Murnau house, which shows Jawlensky listening uneasily to Kandinsky's innovative art theories.

Gabriele Münter: "Zuhören (Bildnis Jawlensky)" (1909)

Lenbachhaus München / Leopold Museum

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer, Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Our generation really could not expect this!"
(Leopold Museum, 2023)  

Blaues Wasser

The world's largest collection of Schiele paintings can be found in Vienna's Leopold Museum. Among other famous works, several expressionist self-portraits are on display.

IMG_E9397.JPG

Egon Schiele:
"Self-portrait with raised bare shoulder" (1912)

Leopold Museum

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Photo: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Egon Schiele is shocked by today's data on Global Warming" (2024)  

As part of a collaboration with the collectors Gabriele and Werner Merzbacher, the Kunsthaus Zürich is showing 65 works of art on permanent loan, including works by the Brücke co-founder Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner:
Two Nudes on a Blue Sofa (1910-1920) (on permanent loan, Merzbacher Collection)

Kunsthaus Zürich


Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Despite this heat, we can't take anything else off" (2025)

The nymph Daphne symbolizes change as she transformed into a laurel tree to escape Apollo.

Dagobert Peche, in 2024/25 subject of the exhibition PECHE POP at the MAK in Vienna, was fascinated by transformations.

The sculpture Daphne was carved from lime wood and colored for the Wiener Werkstätten shop that opened in Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse in 1917. Today it belongs to the Salzburg Museum.

In today's world of unexpected and disruptive change, would Dagobert Peche have seen Daphne as an allegory for the climate change we are witnessing? The big difference, however, is that Daphne wanted the change, and most of us are not in favor of it.

Dagobert Peche"Daphne" (1917)
 

MAK,Vienna: 
Exhibition PECHE POP

(Courtesy Salzburg Museum)

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Daphne – An allegory of
climate change?"
 (2025)  

Similar to Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, Ernst Barlach also encourages to present a person who doubts climate change.

Ernst Barlach"The Doubter" (1917/1930)
 

Ernst Barlach Haus, Hamburg /
Leopold Museum

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"I am a free thinker - I don't trust scientific statements" (2025)  

Austrian sculptor Anton Hanak created an artwork titled "Der brennende Mensch – Du brennst und verbrennst" (1922), which is on display, among others, at the Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz. The title of this artwork was used as title of a book edition of Hanak's diaries.
 

If we put the metasphere between his arms, the sculpture can be interpreted as a very early warning about a forthcoming climate crisis.

Anton Hanak: "Der brennende Mensch – Du brennst und verbrennst" (1922)

Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Early Warning" (2023)  

Blaues Wasser
Blaues Wasser

Jonathan Borofsky
"Man Walking to the Sky" (1992)

 

Location: KulturBahnhof Kassel


Metasphere creation:
Sarah Montani and APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Dear climbers,
it can't go on like this" (2022)

The heating of the earth, symbolized by the reddened globe, should always be kept in mind. Thus, our Climate Sphere was applied in a variety of observations, ranging from considering physical artworks to everyday situations.
 

An 8th century BC statue found at Mont'e Prama, Sardinia,  carries a protective shield.

Augmenting the giant by the metasphere raises the question of whether geoengineering can provide us with a technological shield against global warming.

Paul Klee's jester plays with balls. If one falls down, it is not a tragedy. It's a different story when jesters play with the earth - and perhaps gamble it away.

Klee IMG_1059b.jpg

Paul Klee: "Der Narr" (1922)

Albertina,
Permanent loan from Thomas Kirch Stiftung

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Photo: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"A fool gambles with the world" (2023)  

Marianne von Werefkin's work is characterized by quite different creative periods. Best known are her works created during her long partnership with Alexej von Jawlensky and her 'late work', created in Switzerland and best accessible in Ascona. 
 

Marianne von Werefkin:
Le dos a la vie (1928)

Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna Ascona

 

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer, Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Photo: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"At our age, we don't worry about the climate crisis" (2025)  

Neugier

Franz-Albert Tröster creates sculptures whose expressiveness inspired Gerhard Knolmayer to add the Climate Sphere. Many thanks to Franz-Albert Tröster for the permission to show these results.

 

Franz-Albert Tröster: "Neugier", Swamp cypress (2001)

Kulturkirche St. Jakobi,Stralsund

Special exhibition:
1. Stralsunder Kunstschaufenster (2024)

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Curiosity alone will not solve the climate crisis" (2024)  

Franz-Albert Tröster: "Rufer", Pearwood (2011)

St.-Nikolai-Kirche, Stralsund


Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Futile calls to the world" (2024)  

Snowmaking

In a few years, the Alps will be largely glacier-free. This also applies to the most famous of its mountains, the Matterhorn.
 

Lobbyists and others who play down the climate change reassure us that technical innovations will allow us to continue living as we do now, without making any sacrifices or changes to our behaviour.
 

This dystopian depiction assumes that the upper class will be able to maintain its lifestyle. The climate-damaging contrails indicate a high volume of tourist air traffic.
 

Future tourists will know the Matterhorn from photographs as a mountain that used to be covered by glaciers and snow. In an attempt to preserve this attraction of a bygone era, tourist managers have erected a huge crane to cover the mountain's rocks with snow. The artwork imagines that snowmaking on the Matterhorn has just begun, as the profitable ski slopes are now sufficiently covered.
 

Realistically, we have to accept that some of the ideas proposed to 'solve' the climate crisis are as irreal as building a crane to an altitude of 4,500 metres.

Gerhard Knolmayer: "Will innovations secure our lifestyle?" (2025)

Dusty Art Studio & Gallery, Vienna

Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"It is important to be realistic when it comes to innovation" (2025)  

Another page shows how the Climate Sphere may also be applied to everyday situations

If you want to generate the Climate Sphere on your own cell phone and to participate in the
 

Citizen Art: Sferism for Future Movement,


you find instructions on how to do this here.

© 2019-2026  
Dusty Art Studio & Gallery
Schubertgasse 14, A 1090 Wien
www.mydusty.art
dusty.art@gmx.at

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