Freundschaft in finsteren Zeiten

In the organizer's words:

The present, with its trouble spots on a large scale and friend-foe schemes on a small scale, calls Hannah Arendt's timeless thinking to the fore again! Less than half of the world's population lives in democracies today. Autocratic societies continue to grow and usually make decisions without effective democratic control or effective opposition. In contrast to democracy, they lack pluralism - one of Arendt's central categories! According to Arendt, truth is only formed through negotiation between people, the essence of which must always be plurality. And it is this plurality of internal and external relationships from which Arendt also reflected on friendship: "Such a saying, however, is bound to a space in which there are many voices and where the expression of what 'seems to be truth' both connects and distances people from one another, indeed actually creates this distance between people, who together then make up the world."

16 poets from 15 countries around the world have responded to Hannah Arendt's quotes on friendship from her Lessing Prize speech in exciting and original text-image collages. Using the technique of collage and the combination of different (image) materials, they have transferred literature and philosophy into a visual space. Collage as an art form broadens and expands interpretations, reflects and discusses perspectives and opens up new spaces of perception. Moderated by Silke Arning and Beatrice Faßbender, the poets Giorgio Ferretti, Ellen Hinsey, Elza Javakhishvili, Rebeka Kupihár, Yang Lian & YoYo, Max Lobe, Aaiún Nin, Sool Park, Faruk Šehić and Suvi Valli will guide you through the exhibition in 5-minute spots, including a break at the bar. Purvai Aranya, Ricardo Domeneck, Dagmara Kraus and Rery Maldonado Galarza will take part in digital form.

The exhibition can be seen at the Literaturhaus until July 24

Supported by the Baden-Württemberg Foundation