KAREN OOSTENBRINK / DIE HEILIGEN, DIE MÖWEN & DAS MEER / 03.04. – 09.05.2009

Exhibition views (please click on the image to enlarge):

the saints, the seagulls and the sea

Once upon a time there were saints who could not be satisfied. They had the sense not to be seen, not in their full size. Vain they were, these saints. They saw but only one way to truly be seen: to give oneself to their faith. And thus it came that when the first admirers stopped and adored the saints, they - full of joy - thought their salvation secure. The believers rejoiced and felt as one-eyed kings among the blind, chosen to see the flower that to the others would remain invisible.

But one sees little with just one eye, if he stands in front of the sun looking upon his own shadow. And how big this shadow was. Few flowers are able to bloom in such a shadow. All that the saints once imagined brightly illuminated now withered in the dark. On their way back into the sun the saints faced a dilemma. Their holiness lasted only as long as the reverence of their admirers. Now the saints had to decide: either salvation, or sun. Ultimately they chose the sun and continued on. They found the path difficult; it is not not easy to take one without having to renounce the other.

At this point we meet them, my saints. They outgrew their childhood without growing up; innocence recognizes guilt, however, the guilt is innocent, danger grows and all resistance subsides. But still, they bear one shadow within their hearts. Call them vain, these saints, call them naive; but genuine is their faith. Now they ask themselves what exactly this faith has brought them - and whether it would not be better to leave it behind in the dark.

On a foggy morning in Berlin above the waters of the Museum Island, between the television tower and the cathedral, between paintings and migrated gods, there they hover. They ascend from the mist and dive back in: the seagulls. How lovely - the desecrated saints think - seagulls in Berlin. At this very moment. But then the sky clears. As true holiness needs no admiration, true faith does not need gratification, since it is fulfilling in itself. It may seem foolish to believe in a sea in the middle of a city. But there are seagulls. And where there are seagulls, there is the sea.

(text by Karen Oostenbrink, February 2009)

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Opening documented by the Berlin Artcontacter:
www.berlinerkunstkontakter.de