NOWs: Line and Dot by Sophia Pompéry & Tobias Roth

02 September - 15 October 2016 / Nows

LINE AND DOT
Sophia Pompéry & Tobias Roth

The line and the dot, these ancient characters of script, become cues for two radical and experimental artworks exhibited during Appropriating Language #17, in Manière Noire. With both pieces: Und Punkt as well as Häuserzeilen. 1600 Meter Monostichon, Sophia Pompéry examines the visual form of writing, given extreme amplifications.
Und Punkt is a collection of microscopically photographed full stops that mark the end of the last sentence in novels about love, in a time frame from 1774 to 2008. This is an invitation to the viewer, to individually contemplate on detail at a standstill. Whereas Häuserzeilen. 1600 Meter Monostichon, a collaboration with the author Tobias Roth, invites the viewer for a stroll, in order to go through distances in urban space. A poem of Roth about the quarter of Moabit was recently executed on its streets (spanning over 1600 meters) by means of a huge brush and a mixture of water and chalk. The perception of everyday life and space was the theme of the poem, which, transferred outdoors, stimulated the public to experience the line (the poem) by walking.


How do these, brought to extreme, forms of typography and calligraphy change, when they return indoor, back to the book and frames? Photographs, printed matter, a poem and a film are on display at Manière Noire in Berlin/Moabit. Starting the 2nd of September 2016, the exhibition lasts until 15th of October.

Tobias Roth’s essay about Und Punkt, the series of full stops by Sophia Pompéry is available with Signaturen Magazin, Forum für zeitgenössische Poesie.