52° 31min. 5 sec. northern latitude
13° 21 min. 13sec. eastern longitude
1996-97, kinetic steel sculpture, 8m high, 1.44m wide
Site: in the square in front of the Matthäus church (Matthäus church place) at the cultural forum in Berlin.

The creator of the sculpture is the artist Hella De Santarossa, who has lived in Berlin for seventeen years and who has sent several important "art signals" there. Her best known sculpture, now a landmark in Berlin, is the glass "Blue Obelisk", which has stood on Theodor-Heuss-Platz since 1995.
As one of the founding artists of the Gallery on Moritzplatz, she has since then represented internationally Berlin´s reputation as a metropolis of art.
In 1996, the historical, sociological, and political changes in the re-united city inspired Hella De Santarossa to create this design, whose permanent site will be in Berlin.
Hella De Santarossa consciously chose as the contour for her sculpture the traditional milestone, as has been used to fix and determine sites since the beginnings of cartography, but her concern is to provide, not physical distances, but a philosophical dimension.

The eight meter high kinetic steel sculpture is open on all sides; inside, it displays an equally tall, slender steel needle turning smoothly on a disk, driven by solar cells on a pedestal.
Passersby are offered a chance to recall the eternal course of time - a chance to stop and meditate and experience a moment of calm and continuity in the big city.
The work expresses the artist´s personal perception, confirmed in recent years by many voices lamenting the fast pace of life in our epoch and the hectic, agitated life of Berlin particular since the events of 1989.
At the beginning of 2000 characterized by belief in progress, a large part of our society is in a process of transformation that expresses itself in people´s personal lives as manifest anxieties and insecurities.

In her sensitive approach to these anxieties, the artist sees the "Berlin Needle of Time" as a milestone and metaphor for the multicultural influences, integrations, and assimilations reaching the city from all directions and making up its special diversity.

A short retrospect of the exhibition stations up to now:
°1996 in May at the exhibition "Umsteigebahnhof", Castle Charlottenburg, Berlin
°1996 from June on in the european cultural capital Kopenhagen
°1997 at the X.Documenta in Kassel
°1997/98 at the exhibition "Brandenburger Früchte", Märkisches Museum, Berlin
°1998/99 at the literary colloquium in Wannsee, Berlin
°1999 since september up to now at the culture forum in front of the Matthäus church, Berlin