Stefan Marx: "It's Yesterday Somewhere Else"

A kōan is a paradoxical riddle without a solution—a story, dialogue, or statement that cannot be understood by the rational mind but which provokes enlightenment. By wrestling with the riddle, meditation practitioners aim to achieve kenshō or satori, a sudden flash of insight or awakening. The goal, in other words, is to have a direct, unmediated experience of reality.

“IT’S YESTERDAY SOMEWHERE ELSE,” taken from the notebooks of artist Stefan Marx, immediately evokes a kōan by resisting reason and asking instead to be felt. That’s because the mind stutters with it being yesterday in the present tense. And if this isn’t somewhere else, almost by definition, then where are you?

A kōan interlude: Two great minds argue about a flag.

One says: The flag moves.

The other says: The wind is moving.

Another walks by and says: Not the wind, not the flag; the mind is moving.

Throughout September 2025, the phrase “IT’S YESTERDAY SOMEWHERE ELSE” will appear on the latest Lufthansa First Class loungewear. This collectible designed by the artist will be available exclusively to Lufthansa First Class guests, 30,000 feet above the ground, and on selected routes from Munich and Frankfurt to New York.

For those versed in riddles, a simple trial-and-error strategy may lead them to reversing Marx’ note, turning “IT’S YESTERDAY SOMEWHERE ELSE” into “SOMEWHERE ELSE IT’S YESTERDAY.” This is felt too but also cognitively makes one think of being on one side of the time divide and being aware of the other—say, of having lunch in Tokyo while it’s dinner time the day before in Los Angeles. As a matter of fact, Marx, a longtime aviation enthusiast, has suggested that the phrase “IT’S YESTERDAY SOMEWHERE ELSE” reflects on how time feels different in the air: suspended between places, both here and there, not in a single time zone, but always in the now.

A partnership with Lufthansa First Class.