Yadegar Asisi’s talent never ceases to amaze…
Yadegar Asisi – an artist and architect whose talent never ceases to amaze
Yadegar Asisi is a renowned Berlin-based artist and architect of Iranian descent. He was born on April 8, 1955, in Vienna, Austria. He studied architecture at the Dresden University of Technology (Technische Universität Dresden, TU Dresden) and later continued his education in painting at the Academy of Arts in Berlin (Akademie der Künste in Berlin). There, he became one of the most distinguished students of the celebrated contemporary painter and graphic artist Klaus Fußmann, whose work is characterized by a reinterpretation of traditional genres and their individual artistic transformation.
Since 2003, Asisi has been passionately creating monumental circular panoramas that offer a full 360-degree view and often cover up to 3,500 square meters. He has not only revived the nearly forgotten genre of panorama art but has infused it with new life, elevating it to the level of true fine art. Working in close collaboration with a team of 3D artists, architects, and digital graphics specialists, Asisi meticulously designs every detail of his creations.
Thousands of photographs, sketches, drafts, and paintings are transformed into high-resolution digital images that merge seamlessly into a unified whole. The result is a mesmerizing fusion of painting, drawing, and digital art that immerses viewers completely in the depicted world. His works have been exhibited with great success across Germany and France. Among his most notable creations are “Luther 1517,” “Titanic,” “Pergamon,” “The Wall,” “Rome 312,” “Rouen 1431,” “Amazonia,” “Leipzig 1813,” “Everest,” “Baroque Dresden,” and “Great Barrier Reef.”
What is particularly fascinating is that Asisi installs his panoramic works in decommissioned gas holders – massive industrial tanks formerly used for storing gaseous substances such as natural gas, biogas, liquefied petroleum gas, or air. He gave them the name “Panometer” – a term combining “panorama” and “gasometer.”
For example, the Panometer Leipzig has been operating since 2003 (Richard-Lehmann-Straße 114, 04275 Leipzig), while the Panometer Dresden opened in 2006 (Gasanstaltstraße 8B, 01237 Dresden).
These spaces present large-scale panoramic paintings and photographs created by Asisi and his team, which are continuously renewed and expanded with new works. Asisi himself once remarked: “A panorama is never finished. Each new presentation is another opportunity to deepen the depicted world and to expand it with new knowledge.”
The “Great Barrier Reef” – the rebirth of a unique panoramic masterpiece
A powerful example of Yadegar Asisi’s creative vision is his latest project — the innovative renewal and “rebirth” of the panoramic installation “Great Barrier Reef.”
The original version was exhibited at the Panometer Leipzig between 2015 and 2017. From 2017 to 2018, it was shown in Rouen, France, and later, between 2018 and 2023, in the city of Pforzheim, located in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world, stretching along the northeastern coast of Australia. It is a unique natural wonder composed of countless coral reefs (about 2,500), sandbanks, and small islands (around 1,000), extending over more than 2,300 kilometers.
It is considered the largest living structure on Earth, created by countless marine organisms. The reef’s width varies from about 2 kilometers in the north to up to 152 kilometers in the south. Most of the reef’s structure lies beneath the water’s surface and becomes visible only during low tide. Studies have shown that some coral formations reach a thickness of more than 500 meters.
The estimated age of the coral formations ranges from two to eighteen million years. The reef supports an immense diversity of marine life and serves as one of the planet’s most important ecosystems.
For this reason, the Great Barrier Reef was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981.
In its new and expanded version, Asisi’s monumental 360° panorama reveals the captivating underwater world of the planet’s largest coral reef with breathtaking detail and vibrant color intensity. Visitors are immersed in a realm usually hidden from human eyes — shimmering corals, colorful schools of fish, and mysterious patterns of light deep beneath the ocean’s surface, all presented within a space rising 27 meters high and covering more than 3,000 square meters.
The panorama unites various depths and habitats into a single artistic composition.
It is based on tens of thousands of underwater photographs and sketches collected by Yadegar Asisi during several expeditions together with the Australian filmmaker, documentarian, and six-time champion of the Australian Open Spearfishing Championships, Ben Cropp.
The presentation of the reef’s beauty is accompanied by thematic ambient music and specially composed soundscapes created by Eric Babak, one of Europe’s most popular television composers and producers. The combination of atmospheric sounds, music, and shifting light between day and night allows visitors to experience a deep emotional immersion in the underwater world.
Enhanced with new content and visual updates, the renewed version of the panoramic installation “Great Barrier Reef”will open at the Panometer Dresden on March 27, 2026.
Tags: Yadegar Asisi , panorama , Dresden , Panometer , Great Barrier Reef , art , exhibition , Germany , 2026 , underwater , coral reef , installation , artist , Berlin , UNESCO
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