September 28, 2023, 10 am – 2 pm
Many thanks to the curator, writer & art critic Dr. An Paenhuysen for her lecture Short and Light and discussing the works of our participants within the Studio Program at BAI | Berlin Artist Residency, Art School, Arts Incubator, and Live Online Courses & Classes.
“Are there advantages to keeping it short and light? Shortness is an art of few words and many suggestions, whereas a certain lightness can counter a culture of credit and pragmatics. Yet, both don’t enjoy the best reputation. Often shortness is found to be “a bit thin”. Deep thinking requires a substantial length. And the common misunderstanding is also that thinking deeply equals being serious. A sense of humour is supposed to reveal the very opposite of a profound analysis, rather touching upon the superficial side of things. Short and light fit, of course, well together. Anything that takes the scenic route, tends to acquire gravity. In my lecture I will explore the critical potential of the short and the light: from eventualities, instant theory, espresso talks, to flash stories, picture haiku’s and aphorisms. If there is any time left, we will do some finger writing exercises with a minimum of words.” (Text by courtesy of Dr. An Paenhuysen)
An Paenhuysen is an independent curator, writer and art critic based in Berlin. From 2019 to 2022 she was the director of ‘The House of The Deadly Doris’, where she organised events to activate its 1980s punk archive. Recently, An curated ‘Hotel Belgrade’, the main venue for Belgrade Art Week 2021 and in 2022 ‘Sign and Arts. Deaf Culture / Hearing Culture’ at Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art. An wrote her PhD about the cultural criticism of the Belgian artistic avant-garde. She was a post-doc researcher at UC Berkeley, Columbia University New York and Humboldt University Berlin. An has published her writing in Spike Magazine, Contemporary And, Sotheby’s, Berlin Art Link, etc. She also writes poetry: Silly Poems (Arthur Cravan Foundation) and Island Life (Quince Ediciones). In 2020 she founded the publishing project AAAAA PPPPP Publishing for short format art writing.
More information on the An Paenhuysen Website.
