S O U L   T R A V E L

PROJECT PAINTING VERSUS LANGUAGE.

Can we succeed in putting picture and word, painting and lyric poetry in relation to each other? An interaction that is more than just mutual jewelry and leaves the two forms of work enough space for their artistic autonomy? These questions occupied me quite some time, when I got the opportunity in the fall of 2009 to collaborate with a very talented poet from Hamburg, who had specialized in the sonnet (a Shakesperean poetry manner). The result is the exhibition IF MY SOUL COULD TRAVEL, which was made available to the public in winter 2009/2010. The accompanying document to the exhibition describes the results of the cooperation:

The Hamburg artists, the painter Christian Bahr and the poet Jan-Hendrik von Kuick, combine their independent work in an interdisciplinary process to create a new, different form of imagery. Contemporary painting meets classic sonnets. The juxtaposition of painting and text gives rise to autonomy. Passion triumphs over the formal frame. One painting, one sonnet. In conversation. In the argument. For each other. Against each other. Together.

The really exciting results are documented in the event flyer in words and pictures (PDF document in German):

> RESULTS OF THE PROJECT