Sweeter than Honey A Panorama of Written Art

The Written Art Collection is dedicated to artistic positions from the mid-20th century to the present day that connect different cultural spheres through language, script, and images. The phenomenon of writing in images is explored through handwriting, calligraphy and typography. The Collection is borne by the idea of highlighting not only intercultural correlations but their critical potential through political conflict as well. Expressive, conceptual, poetic and spiritual approaches – in Europe and the USA, the Middle East, and East Asia – are at the focus of the exhibition.

Starting with Art Informel in the 1950s and Gestural Abstraction, the more than 100 works exhibited reveal the continuous significance of written art over generations and in different cultures. Artists invent fantasy alphabets and abstract sign languages, write poems and calendar entries, quote from literature and political documents, and translate thoughts and conversations into sprayed, graphic, gestural or embroidered messages. The performativity of writing can be experienced in material and physical traces in painting and photography as well as in expansive, large-scale works. The exhibition title is inspired by the work ‘Mashrabiya – Knowledge is Sweeter than Honey’ (2012) by the Egyptian-German artist Susan Hefuna. It reflects the poetic power of art in conveying and passing on knowledge.

With works by Etel Adnan, Maliheh Afnan, Karel Appel, Siah Armajani, Sophie Calle, Claudia Comte, Thierry De Cordier, Mohammed Ehsai, Golnaz Fathi, Karl Otto Götz, Katharina Grosse, Gu Wenda, Andreas Gursky, Hans Hartung, Susan Hefuna, Jenny Holzer, Rebecca Horn, Inoue Yu-ichi, On Kawara, Franz Kline, Rachid Koraïchi, Glenn Ligon, Brice Marden, Georges Mathieu, Morita Shiryū, Adam Pendleton, Qiu Zhijie, Walid Raad, Ed Ruscha, Kazuo Shiraga, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Mark Tobey, Fabienne Verdier, Lawrence Weiner and Fritz Winter, among others.

Curated by Madeleine Freund and Oliver Kase in cooperation with Thomas Kellein and Marie-Kathrin Krimphoff (Written Art Collection)