On the 21st of February 2020, we had the vernissage at Atelier für Photography. This was our fourth calligraphy exhibition at this place and as always, it gave us a warm and welcomed feeling. Despite of the short notice, there were a lot of visitors from 3-year-old children and the place became lively. 

This year’s theme was German poems. There were Goethe, Silesius, Bonhoeffer, Celan, Ausländer, Handke and the original poem written by a student of mine, Wulf Essen. All of them with one big Kanji symbol, which gives you an impact. 

I wrote a poem “Über den Bergen” by Carl Busse for a small performance. I learnt this poem at the secondly school and it was always with me. The poem was written in the early 1900s but the German poet, Busse seems to have been forgotten in the German history. Here, I brought it back. 

Über den Bergen

Carl Busse

Über den Bergen weit zu wandern

Sagen die Leute, wohnt das Glück.

Ach, und ich ging im Schwarme der andern,

kam mit verweinten Augen zurück.

Über den Bergen weti weti drüben,

Sagen die Leute, wohnt das Glück.

At the vernissage, we liked to feel how to dance with the brush and placed some brushes and some pieces of paper. Of course it was small children who jumped on the table to draw but also slowly, adults came close to pick up the brush. At the end, four papers were full of interesting lines, drawings, kanji and shapes. I guess many had fun. 

Here are some memories of our night. Hope to see you all in the next exhibition.