Kay Rosen's first own exhibition in Europe
She twists letters, plays with punctuation marks and spelling: The American artist Kay Rosen is exhibiting her works at the Weserburg in Bremen from Friday. The 80-year-old is one of the most important language artists of her generation, said curator Ingo Clauß. "Despite this, Kay Rosen has never had a solo museum exhibition in Europe before." The show "Now and Then" with around 40 paintings, videos, wall and print works can be seen in Bremen until the end of March.
Kay Rosen changes a few letters, highlights them in color or rearranges them graphically - and in this way gives words a completely different meaning. For example, she lines up letters of the alphabet and highlights the greeting "HI". However, Rosen does not limit herself to entertaining wordplay, but often links her works with a political message.
For example, in the early 1990s, the artist denounced social discrimination against AIDS sufferers: On public buses in America, she put up posters with more than 20 synonyms for the word "aid" (alluding to the word "aids") - which means "help" in German. But the attacks on the World Trade Center, the terms of office of Barack Obama and Donald Trump and Hurricane Katrina are also reflected in her work.
For the exhibition at the Weserburg, the linguist has created her own work, "Soundtrack": In six pictures, black censor bars transform the word "Disco" - from "Discover" ("discover") to "Disco Fever" ("disco fever"). Around the UN Climate Change Conference at the end of November, the city of Bremen also wants to put up posters with the word "Warming". She will highlight the second part of the letter "m" in color, so that "Warming" quickly becomes "Warning", i.e. a warning against global warming.
Kay Rosen's unique language art has been showcased in various exhibitions worldwide, but "Soundtrack," a new piece specifically created for this exhibition at the Weserburg, marks her first solo museum exhibition in Language art in Europe. Visitors to the "Now and Then" exhibition can immerse themselves in Rosen's thought-provoking works, including her vibrant word paintings and politically charged installations.
Source: www.dpa.com
