Exhibition of 21 different historical handwritings fixed in as many ceramic tiles, accompanied by an artist’s book presenting the stories ‘behind’ the handwriting-tiles. The exhibition presents a very personal fusion of Jewish family history and ceramic tile making created by John Löwenhardt in 2018-2019.
Twelve tiles tell stories in family history from the 1846-1939 period, six tiles relate to the Holocaust and three to post-war years. Their setting is the Twente region in the east of the Netherlands, and bordering North Rhine-Westfalia in Germany.
Else Ten Brink-Frank 1937
The title of this project and exhibition, To write – or not to be, is the author’s own translation of Wer schreibt, der bleibt (German), Wie schrijft, die blijft (Dutch), a saying that suggests that by writing people leave traces in history. The English expression Publish or perish is considered inadequate for after all, not all writing is being published.
The installation was shown in July-August 2020 at Kunststation (Art Station) in the old railroad station building of Delden, The Netherlands. The accompanying book is in Dutch and can be accessed here.
