Arthena Foundation/Literaturbüro NRW crossover roundtable with artist Verena Issels and author & journalist Joachim Bessing, moderated by Maren Jungclaus, introduced by Ludwig Seyfarth.
- The Good: Both Issels and Bessing had interesting, enlightening, and funny things to tell.
- The Neutral: Bessing’s novel Wachs und Gold is interesting, but not my cup of tea for various reasons. (He read the first and one later chapter.)
- The Pity: Issing’s work is not part of the current exhibition (she had been part of the 2023/2024 exhibition “Bodies, Grids, and Ecstasy”), so that she had to make do with projecting a PDF onto the wall.
- The Awful: The interminable length of Jungclaus’s questions was perpendicular to their actual substance, topped by the lack of a meaningful concept to connect Issing’s work and Bessing’s novel via themes, motifs, or techniques in ways that make sense and aren’t shockingly trivial. (Add to that the complete lack of artistic and literary references to enlarge and enrich the discussion, which has always been a hallmark of KAI 10 events.)
Well, there was still The Good. But I’m no longer sad I missed a similar crossover event three weeks ago.
aufbrechen — ankommen, September 29, 2026
KAI 10 | Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf