On March 21, the Heliopolis University (HU) campus was enriched by a special work of art named “Local Noon” or “A.M. P.M.”. The art piece indicates when the sun is at its highest during the day and when it crosses the local north-south line (meridian). „Local Noon” was designed and created by Felix Auth (SEKEM project manager) and Rembert Biemond (SEKEM supervisory board member). Both are, according to the usual understanding, not artists, but rather have worked together creatively in the Joseph Beuys sense of “Everyone is a creator”. „The art piece reminds us of the cosmic origin of our time,” Rembert Biemond explains. „Actually the center of the day, which is indicated to us by the clock noon at 12:00, is not identical to the local noon, the actual time when the sun is at its highest.” So the local noon differs from 12:00 on our clock throughout the year. At Heliopolis University, for example between 20 minutes before and after clock-noon.
Religions, on the other hand, still follow cosmic rhythms in various contexts today. “In Islam, for example, the midday prayer is held when the sun is at its highest and not when the clock strikes 12,” Rembert Biemond knows. SEKEM founder Ibrahim Abouleish was intensively involved with the connections between architecture and astronomy, especially in the last years of his life. He was keen to take these aspects into account when expanding the Heliopolis University campus. „The new art piece can also remind us that true sustainability matters across generations and should also be seen in astronomical and geological time dimensions,” says Rembert Biemond.
“Local Noon” was inaugurated on the occasion of Ibrahim Abouleish’s 84th birthday on the Heliopolis University campus. “Hopefully it will be a well visited place and time,” Rembert Biemond wished, in the sense of “we meet at local noon at local noon!”