Anastasis Exhibition: Giorgio Andreotta Calò's Site-Specific Installation at Oude Kerk

Giorgio Andreotta Calò's 'Anastasis' dramatically transformed the Oude Kerk's interior with a pervasive red light, creating an immersive experience that merged the sacred space with the surrounding urban atmosphere. The exhibition explored themes of religious imagery, historical iconoclasm, and the photographic process.

Giorgio Andreotta Calò's installation 'Anastasis' significantly altered the interior of the Oude Kerk during the summer, immersing visitors in an ocean of red light. This pervasive red glow, particularly potent at night as it mingled with the red lights of the surrounding red-light district, created a unique interplay between the sacred and the secular, the interior and the exterior. Calò's intervention aimed to reintroduce Catholic visual language into the building, prompting reflection on the Beeldenstorm of 1566 and shifts in religious thought. He utilized imagery from the only surviving Catholic stained-glass window depicting the death of the Virgin Mary as the basis for a new photographic work. The red light served as an undeveloped image, creating conditions akin to a photographic darkroom within the church itself, effectively turning the sacred space into an artist's studio and developing space. The photographic work later traveled to the Triennale Museum in Milan and the MAXXI Museum in Rome.

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