FLY

The exhibition F L Y presents works on paper, paintings, sculptures, and objects from the collection of the Städtische Galerie Delmenhorst, Haus Coburg. Around 140 works and 16 series from a total of 45 regional as weil as international art­ists coutd be acquired over the last 10 years. Sparkling nug­gets that got caught in the coarse-meshed sieve of a modest purchasing budget. In most cases, the prospecting area was our in-house exhibition projects, whereby the artists them­selves supported one or the other purchase with their gener­ous amenability. In this sense, the steadily growing collection to some extent also reflects the exhibition program of the Städtische Galerie Delmenhorst.

For F L Y, the poet Ame Rautenberg, who is also a visual artist who produces collages, prints, and text installations, was invited to select the works to be shown in the exhibition. What goes on in the eye of the poet? Which pic­tures lend wings to his poetic thought? Short poems, touch­ing thought poetry, poems for children, as well as cascades of words and rhymes, humorous experiments with language, strings of words, and visual poetry.

Arne Rautenberg was given carte blanche to sift through our depot. At the same time, he was asked to respond to the works on disptay with his own poems–with new ones and po­ems from his existing repertoire as weil as with space-related textuat works. What was requested were poetic scores, associ­ative references, playful or surprising concoctions. Anything but illustrative explanations. What was sought were poems that elicit thoughts, that can work magic, indeed, that lend wings to the public when viewing the works.