Media Vita in Morte Sumus unfolds from the existential tension inherent in the phrase “in the midst of life we are in death.” This work takes death not as a distant event or metaphor, but as an ever-present companion that coexists with vitality at every moment of living. Life’s enthusiasm and cascading motions, its beauty and intensity, are intimately interwoven with the inevitability of decline and cessation. In this interplay, death is not an external antagonist but an intrinsic dimension of being - a shadow that runs parallel to every heartbeat.
The piece imagines the human journey as a relentless pursuit, a mad rush through experience with full corporeal force, yet always accompanied by the silent rhythm of mortality. Life enfolds death within its own momentum; death, in turn, walks through the luminous richness of life’s expressions. When that immeasurable being - embodied, vibrant, whole - encounters the corrosion of death, the music of existence stills, and the lament of that eternal companion begins.
Rooted in the historical antiphon Media Vita in Morte Sumus, a medieval chant that reflects on life’s fragility and the omnipresence of death, the work does not seek consolation nor denial. Instead, it immerses the viewer in the cyclic convergence of vitality and decay - an experience of life as both resounding presence and fragile ephemerality. Through this lens, the work reveals how every moment of joy, motion, and creation is inseparable from the inevitability of loss, inviting reflection on how the human condition is shaped as much by mortality as by life’s exuberance.