Playing by Heart

Kolumba, Kunstmuseum des Erzbistums Köln

Cologne | Germany

15 Sep, 2014 - 24 Aug, 2015

The joys and the hopes, griefs and anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.芦 Thus begins the Second Vatican Council鈥檚 concluding document Gaudium et Spes "on the Church in the modern world", published 50 years ago in 1965, which is so important for the Catholic Church even today. In a time of numerous political crises and militarily resolved conflicts associated increasingly with religious intolerance and an heretofore unseen number of refugees, this message seems more relevant than ever.

We are taking this anniversary as an opportunity to deal with "joy and hope", or respectively, with how these are made visible in art and culture. Art is playing with contents and shaping it into form. It transforms the materials available to it 鈥� language, substance, color, sound, movement 鈥� according to its own, often intuitive laws. Art allows itself the unthinkable, since "Man is a god when he dreams and a beggar when he thinks" (H枚lderlin). We search for modern images of joy in reaction to a, for the most part, one-sided updating of contents on Christian beliefs with its great themes of the Passion, as it occurs in art from Classical Modernism up to today. We search for counter images of pain: new starts and departures, presence, happiness, creativity, creation, play, utopia, vitality, but also cheerfulness, humor, and wit are some of the key-words that guide us. From a theological standpoint, joy is a possible way of experiencing God in freedom, finding its central expression in the shared celebration of the Eucharist. In a way that addresses all of our senses, this exhibition wishes to give fitting expression to the joy derived from the present and the hope for the future that is rooted in Christian faith. With this we are launching a nation-wide exhibition project for the German Bishops鈥� Conference, and in doing so, Kolumba is more than ever a place of poetic interim spaces, of playfully creative dialogue, and reflective cheerfulness. We probe the value of aesthetic education, of non purpose-driven play, and the recognition of artistic work in a society largely dominated by economics and efficiency.

The title Playing by Heart has to do with the feeling of happiness that a thorough knowledge of a work can produce. At the same time, it is a metaphor for a holistic, creative, and caring relationship to the world, to one鈥檚 self, and to one鈥檚 neighbor. "Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays." (Schiller). Last but not least, "Playing by Heart" is an exhibition about love.