Flying, now in the 21st century is time for justice

Or: Why I missed the fly a halo

The fly. Holded, avoided, killed, disregarded, hunted. In most of us, our six -legged roommates do not necessarily trigger particularly positive feelings. But that is unjustified! Flying are fascinating, high -performance carriers, and important for us.

This article is about our relationship with the flies, her role in art and why I therefore gave her a halo.

The fly in art and cultural history, a passage

Our art and cultural history is, in a sense, a mirror reflecting our human ways of thinking, acting, and expressing our opinions. Therefore, let's begin with a brief overview of our "fly culture."

After the god Myiagros was not particularly successful to free the people of the ancient Greece from flies, this task was transferred to the boss, i.e. Zeus. Was he more successful? That remains to be doubted. In any case, I met a lot of flies on my last family vacation in Greece.

Already interesting, the fly seems and seemed to show the godfather the limits of his power. So it makes sense that a god only seems to cook with water. The art historian Anna Degler writes that the fly has confused hierarchies (Degler A.: Parergon. Paderborn: Verlag Wilhelm Fink 2015). However, it can be derived here that flying was not particularly popular in ancient Greece if gods have already been applied to them.

In Christianity, the fly was consistently included in the family of God's creatures, but it remained a "nuisance" and had to serve in Christian art as a symbol of mortality, perishability and sin. Incidentally, the word "Beelzebub" describes the devil in the form of the fly. The personified evil as the lord of the flies. The devilish and the fly, so to speak, into personal union. Not a good starting point for a good image.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, fashion developed as a natural as possible, to a certain extent as an optical illusion, to insert into paintings (trompe-l'e sil flight). This goes back to an anecdote from Italy, as Peter Geimer describes (Geimer P.: Flying, a portrait. Berlin: Matthes Seitz 2018). She tells how a student of the painter Cimabue illegally painted a fly on one of his characters, which looked so real that the master wanted to shine it off by hand.

In the era of the Enlightenment and Classic, there were again increased representations of the fly, but this time with the help of optical equipment from a scientific and anatomical perspective. Whether the: The viewers: in these representations was fascinated or disgusted at that time. In the romance we encounter a meaningful quote from Schopenhauer: "For the symbol of outrageousness and dummy rice, you should take the fly. Because while all animals shy away from everything and flee from afar, she sits on his nose."

In the 20th century, the fly in art and culture naturally also appeared in the film. Kurt Neumann turned "The Fly" followed by two sequels and a remake of David Cronenberg 1986. The fly made it to the leading actress and that in the science fiction horror genre, where else! In the early 21st century it became more complex.

The range extends from the controversial installations “A Hundred Years” and “A Thousand Years” by Damien Hirst (Spiegel Culture: Art museum warned by veterinary office for killing flies. https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kunstmuseum-wolfsburg-verwarnt-wegen-toter-fliegen-bei-damien-hirst-a-f899bb96-a0d3-4e84-a575-a12dcb445868 , last accessed 4.9.2022), which accept the death of their main subjects, the flies.

, there were art campaigns such as "Die Fliege Erika" by the artist duo Frank and Patrik Riklin (St. Galler T Terms Terms & Conditions Terms & Conditions is now resting at the university. visited 30.8.2022). These brought a fly with their own flight ticket to a wellness hotel and wanted to raise the question of the value of a fly.

So we hold on. In our cultural and art history, the fly usually doesn't get away well. It is a symbol of admission and disregard, is hunted, used as a means to the purpose or at best, as in many time periods, Ignore again and again. As is briefly indicated, there is a pleasant way to get the fly from its dark corner in art and to focus on it yourself. To my approach in this regard, we will come later.

The fly, a high-performer

In Germany alone there are over 3000 types of fly. Although no secret and regularly observing everywhere in the fresh air, against the background of our cultural-historical characteristics, our personal dislikes and prejudices, hardly anyone realizes that flying are absolute high-performers. With their "ecological services", behavior and functions, they are not only useful, but indeed important for us, our food production and of course our ecosystems. But they are threatened, especially from climate change and pesticides. Useful? Here are a few impressive examples:

• According to the British Islands, hoverflies should be responsible for up to 50% of the total of pollination performance (Ollerton et al. (2012): Trends in Ecology & Evolution 27 (3): pp. 141-142). That is more than honey and wild bees. There are also numerous other "good" properties.
• The gray meat fly (Sarcophaga Carnaria), for example. Their larval stages can help to determine the time of death in forensic medicine (Fakoorziba M. et al.: New Record of Sarcophaga Ruficornis, Fabricius, 1794 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) from Iran, A Flesh Fly Species of Medical and Forensic Importance No. 1, 2017, DOI : 19080/JFSCI.2017.03.555602 ).
• Gold flying (Lucilia Sericata) are reliable user and disposal of AAS and excrement. They are important pollinators of umbels such as parsley, caraway and fennel.
• Many fly larvae diligently keep lice in chess.
• As part of the food chain and food base, flies are indispensable for many birds and amphibians.

These alone are reasons enough to see with completely different, much more positive eyes.

This means that a change in the “visual-the-fly” is also announced in cultural history. She has more than deserved and necessary to be the focus. So, get to work.

The first holy fly "Sancta Musca" of art and cultural history

Peter Geimer, I had already mentioned him above, deals with the art -historical representation of the fly in his book "Flying, a portrait", especially in Christian art. Towards the end of his consideration, Geimer stated that there is not a single works in which the flying and presented works of the art have had a halo in which the fly would have got a halo.

This would have been a sacrilege, said Geimer. Isn't it even time for the "Sancta Musca", ie a "holy fly" in art? This would finally ensure that the fly would be the well -deserved attention, recognition and so important appreciation at an eye -historical eye level.

In the end 2022, this small painting (20 x 15cm) of a gold fly with oil paint was inspired and motivated. This first "holy fly" of art and cultural history- this I dare to assert myself- is in turn the basis and the starting point of a whole series of processing and also digital variations. The type of display and the benefit of gold leaf should deliberately remind you of the icon art .

The idea of ​​this came up with the said Greece vacation when I was allowed to be a fascinated guest of an icon art spot on Crete. So these are my three "sanctity catalysts": the halo, the gold leaf and the icon -like representation.

And that is my contribution to the fact that we perceive the fly as what it is: fascinating and equal. Certainly she will not make her sacred sacred, but it should be a symbol to look at those with respect and interest that are constantly around us (sometimes even in winter), namely the flies next to us on the wall.

Celebrating the fascination and beauty of insects and flying in a creative way to inspire and perceive our exciting and so important co -life with and through art differently and new. Out of perception, consciousness becomes awareness and consciousness becomes change. Flying deserves and necessary our recognition and protection. Art can and must make a contribution here! And now they exist, the holy fly.

Jan Olschewski