… on the other side of the fence“, goes a popular saying.I decided to check it out in The Netherlands.
Both sides of the border: Green, lush meadows; flat land, at least in the north, in Friesland. Where’s the difference? My interest in the sweet specialties of our neighbours is pretended; actually, the food is only a side issue of my request to cycle sensibly again: When it comes to cycling, the Dutch are actually greener – in the truest sense of the word!
A biker’s paradise – the paths are wider and the surface smoother. A permanent embodiment of a real appreciation as a road user.
A cargo bike without a load? A film without a picture? The current program of Kunsthalle Osnabrück is irritatingly barrier-free: I cycle 357 km to find out how it achieves to bring down mental barriers.
The artists rearrange our established mental responses. A film without an image to concentrate on sounds and description of scenes and images? Sounds removed from the movements that generate them?
I enter the church. The ship is empty save for the row of screens facing away from the entering visitor. Half of the floor is covered with a patterned carpet. Box-like blocks on top..
The air is filled with a roar, it echoes persistently. The screens show film sequences. The deaf actress practices drums. The sounds of practice become irrelevant as the objects in the rehearsal room are rearranged.
Sudden silence; a call on the protagonist’s smartphone. The gestures of sign language are reflected in the mirror of the hairdressing salon. The roar resumes.
Do we expand our field of perception? We absorb information in different ways than usual, but how? An enriching visit
Kunsthalle Osnabrück: Raumkonzepte im Dialog mit dem Behinderten-Forum Osnabrück – Anna Erdmann/Franziska Goralski (Die Blaue Distanz); Alison O´Daniel (I felt people dancing/The Tuba Thieves).
