The Written Art Collection is unique in its profile. For the first time, the Modern Art Collection (Sammlung Moderne Kunst) in the Pinakothek der Moderne is dedicating a major special exhibition focussing on its holdings of works of scriptural and text-based art. More than 60 artistic positions invite visitors to engage with a 1,200-square-meter exhibition parcours that reveals a panorama of written art and encourages reflection on the reciprocal relationship between text and image. The selection presents writing as both an artistic medium and material from the mid-20th century to the present day. Sweeter than Honey. A Panorama of Written Art highlights a dynamic socio-political dialogue between artists from a pancultural, global perspective.
The exhibition title is inspired by the work Mashrabiya – Knowledge is Sweeter than Honey (Arabic) (2011) by the Egyptian-German artist Susan Hefuna. It reflects the poetic power of art in conveying and imparting knowledge.
The phenomenon of writing in images is explored through handwriting, calligraphy and typography. Starting with Art Informel in the 1950s, through conceptual art since the 1960s, the more than 100 works exhibited reveal the continuous significance of written art across generations and cultures up to this day. Artists invent fantasy alphabets and abstract sign languages, write poems and calendar entries, quote from literature and political documents, and translate thoughts and conversations into sprayed, graphic, gestural or embroidered messages. The performativity of writing can be experienced in material and physical traces in painting and photography as well as in expansive, large-scale works.
Sweeter than Honey. A Panorama of Written Art is the most comprehensive presentation of works in the Written Art Collection held to date and, as such, marks the culmination of a ten-year cooperation with the Modern Art Collection in the Pinakothek der Moderne .