Our Vision
The idea is to set up pillars all over the city and country to make our connectedness visible. Here all people from the surrounding area are involved and can participate. They are people from all strata and age groups of our society, without any preferences or evaluation.
Connectedness – this is probably the most important force that humanity has!
Connectedness is a special power, one that no one can have alone. We are more similar to each other than we believe and perhaps we can only survive together on this planet, if we recognise our attachment and trust in this power.
With the Column of Connectedness, this power gets a shape, so it becomes visible and tangible. It becomes a message. Associated with this is our hope to reach the people in the neighborhood directly. One will feel addressed by the Column and its message. Thus it becomes an object with which people can identify themselves with their neighbourhood, and even the world.
We are all in the same boat!
How true this well-known sentence is, we are all noticing more and more. Even if attempts are increasingly being made around the world to isolate us, and many borders are being strengthened, it remains clear that we cannot exist in isolation in the long term.
Even if our desire for demarkation is justified, we as a human family remain connected to everything that surrounds us.
Connectedness makes no difference whether it is felt or not, it simply is always present.
The boat, our world, is becoming more and more unsafe and threatening, and most of the passengers are strangers to us. This strangeness is often frightening, but when we recognise our connection to our fellow human beings and everything that surrounds us, it can be calming and comforting.
We need togetherness, because we are part of a common whole!
Why portraits in profile?
Everyone has a profile, it’s just always there. It’s a contour, a single line, but it tells a lot about us. It is our limitation to the outside and an amazing, almost magical expression of our personality.
There is great potential in the “show your profile!” call. No one who takes part in the campaign has to do much for it or be particularly active. Just the “I show profile!” shows the willingness to recognize and accept connectedness as the essence of our existence.
Column in Rahlstedt with the coordinates: 53°36'18"N, 10°9'34"E
Why the compass rose as a capital?
The column in Hamburg Rahlstedt is at Schweriner Straße 3–5 and has the coordinates: 53°36’18″N, 10°9’34″E
A compass rose on each column shows the cardinal point and thus creates a connection to other planned columns and thus to the people in the neighbourhood.
As soon as there are several Columns, they are also provided with the appropriate coordinates and distance information and can thus refer to each other.
In this way, everyone can find out where the next pillar is and how far it is from their own location.
What could other Columns look like?
The basic idea is to make the Columns always accessible and tangible for people. Otherwise there are hardly any limits to the design. For example, one idea would be to install a pillar with profiles of representatives from different countries of origin in each district. The term “connectedness” should be redable in the appropriate languages on the pillar or base.
Another possibility are smaller columns with fewer people. Friends, clubs, companies, ensembles, groups of any kind could take part. It will be easy for them to show their connection in this way. Here, too, it is important to show as much diversity as possible, i.e. a cross-section within the respective group.
Columns could also originate through people who join and make the statement: “We show our connectedness”. Following the same principle, large Columns with 50, 70, 100 profile portraits or more could be developed. Politicians and regional groups could then coordinate such projects and thus also contribute enormously to the formation of democracy. Here, the Columns with their human profiles become a symbol for the stability of our society.
