Dan Tien, Quartz and the Source of Time

I met the sculptor Jochen Kitzbihler 23 years ago while doing a granite climb in the Swiss Alps. Since then his work ran circles around granite and other primary rocks and - of course - time. In the weeks before the solstice he had a showcase of his work in and around his studio.

An erected stone, a menhir, in ancient times was a means to connect the Earth with the cosmic energy - or a simple source of time. It could be used as a sundial as well as a calendar.

Dan Tien, the name of the column, refers to a point approximately in the center of gravity of the human body. It is important in traditional Chinese medicine, East Asian meditation and martial art theories as well as Tai Chi. The Dan Tien, too, connects to the cosmic energy.

The middle of the three quartz veins of the column is at the average height of the Dan Tien.

Quartz, one of the main components of granite and the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, provides a very stable frequency and hence is used as an oscillating source of time.

Not only quartz clocks, but almost any digital devices like cameras, computers, cell phones etc. are driven by a small oscillating piece of quartz. Same as the quartz cuts the time in equal pieces the column is cut into pieces of exactly equal height. And same as time is never perceived as uniform the different width of the parts gives the illusion of unequal height.

More info:

• Jochen Kitzbihler's page (german)

• Jochen Kitzbihler at Saatchi online (english)

• Wikipedia on Dan Tien

Europe / Germany

Lat: 48° 0' 40.44" N
Long: 7° 51' 44.68" E

Elevation: 262m

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

Shot with EOS 5D Mk II, Zenitar 16mm fisheye, stitched with PTGui Pro