Sole Site

Authors

Rachel Adam, Darryn Ansted, Tenzing Barshee, Sonja-Maria Borstner, Sally Brand, Max Dax, Natalie Haddad, Dehlia Hannah, Dagmar Kürschner, Vijay Masharani, Sahra Motalebi, Julika Pohle and Cornelius Tittel

Editors

Nina Höke and Tine Lurati

Publisher

Sies + Höke

EDITORIAL

It is not easy to articulate what it’s like to live through this period. Each and every one of us has our own Coronavirus story—our own fears and hopes, our own devastating experiences, and our own enjoyment of a slower pace of life. We all perceive these things differently, the lack of hugs and spaced-out supermarket lines, the quiet streets and the silent sky, the walks with friends at a distance of 1.5 meters. Not forgetting the long phone and video calls, countless Zoom and Skype meetings, the deluge of push notifications, articles, social media posts and talk shows, as well as fitness, yoga, and meditation apps, and the endless Netflix series and countless movies that we finally have time to watch. But there is something static about this constant staring at monitors, laptops, and mobile phones. As much as digital technology connects us and offers us opportunities for interaction, we sit frozen in front of these devices.

And so the idea of this newspaper was born: a tactile medium through which we want to express something with paper and ink. For this project, all the artists from the gallery developed their own ideas for communicating and explaining what is affecting them during this time, for keeping in touch, growing closer together, finding out what other people are doing, and seeing how everyone is feeling. This newspaper seeks to be no more and no less than a place to come together at a time when meetings and contact in real life are not possible, and when we are getting rather too used to disembodied contact. It will document this bizarre era and seeks to chronicle this closeness that we have been consciously and deliberately creating for each other.

New images and poems, thoughts, sketches, ideas, recipes, working methods, and technical findings are all emerging during this time.

We are thankful that for one moment it doesn’t feel like everything is disjointed and distant; instead we worked with artists in these difficult times to develop and execute this idea, which was a lot of fun and gave us a zest for new things. We would like to share these impressions with you and we hope you enjoy reading it.

—And all the very best to you and your loved ones.

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