GUESTS OF DAY 05 - April 21st


On Monday April 21st, my former colleagues Ines and Michael Kahl came over. It was a very interesting and long evening, of which I don't regret a single minute.

It was interesting to hear stories of two people who grew up in very different circumstances, not only regarding religion. Michael grew up in the German Democratic Republic, better known as "East Germany". Religionwise he received an atheist upbringing. Ines, his wife on the other hand grew up in "West Germany", her father is a pastor. As are or where at some time quite a number of his many brothers.

So on one hand there seems to have been a family with no religious connection or even "anti-religious" character, on the other hand there is an overabundance of christianity of different kinds. Ines told us how the different brothers understood the bible in a slightly different way and how that can lead to discussions, arguments and disputes. Pretty strange since they all believe in kind of the same thing and I personally don't understand how you could interpret words like "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 19:19.) in different ways. But man (and woman) likes to be right. "Competition" is probably something the scientists have found a gene for ...

Despite these differemces, Michael seems to be very much included in Ines' family, judging from how they were talking about it and I guess it doesn't matter whether you believe in god or not, as long ans you are able to fully accept everybody else who might think or feel different than you.

Ines' favourite Jesus is one I would always have placed in the time between 1925 and 1940. Jesus looks quite arian and there are three chrildren who look like kids from the "Hitlerjugend". However, as Michael, a graphic designer, pointed out, that while the image might be from that period, it is most probably not an item of fascist propaganda, because during that time the painter would have used a different typefont. And since the Nazis weren't that keen on god and Jesus and so forth, this picture couldn't be a propaganda drawing.

So it might even be from shortly before or after that period, or from Switzerland , maybe. (I will post a link to the image as soon as it is online).

Ines decided on that Jesus because he doesn't look to idolized and holy, but rather like your regular young man. And because she has a notion that the children in the picture could be her parents, judging from the age of the picture.

Michael surprised me with his selection of a favourite Jesus. He chose a Jesus on the cross on a hill. He picked it because Jesus looks so sad and because the sky is so burdensome. It is this description that made me select his favourite Jesus as the "Jesus of Day 06".

While we were talking about the exhibition and how it feels like living here, Michael suggested that the next project should be living with "the other side", meaning satan. Allthough, he said he wasn't sure if he then would want to actually live there.

This brought him to remember a book he just got that day. It is entitled "Can you forgive me, Satan?" and it is about a Punk from Erfurt, the city Michael grew up in. So in a way, this book deals with parts of Michael's past, told from a different perspective. It must be pretty impressive to read that.