Open

Node Center Vol.2

Notebooks

I am Let-
Writ- ters
ing in Art
To Criti-
cism
Ed. An Paenhuysen
A collection of exercises from the online course
Creative Forms of Art Criticism and Writing.
 4 Introduction
by An Paenhuysen
6 Hanako Fujii
to Chris Kraus
10 Mercedes Carriquiry
to Sophie Calle
14 Alex Bowron
to Jon
18 Annette Abel
to Harald Szeemann
20 Claudio Cravero
to Rirkrit Tiravanija
24 Flavia Dalla Bernardina
to Marina Abramovi
28 Marina Kassianidou
to Francis Als (in Four Parts)
32 Maeve Hanna
to curator Marnie Fleming,
Oakville Galleries (Canada)
36 Annalisa Pellino
to the non-participants of the
Forum of Italian Contemporary Art
38 Sarah Mercadante
to Nadia
42 Sujin Jung
to Fatih Akin
46 Voices
 Introduction
4 5
An Paenhuysen
Open letters are a genre that art critics rarely use.
If they ever did so, these letters didt seem to go
viral. Its different with artists letter writing. There
are several famous ones: Adrian Piper critiquing
art critic Donald Kuspit, Yvonne Rainer opposing
museum director Jeffrey Deitch, DanhV fighting
with his collector Bert Kreuk.
Mostly, these open letters are written with emotion.
The emotion tends often to be negative, coming
from a place of anger. Open letters are a great way
for releasing that anger, protesting against injustice
or denouncing malpractice with the knowledge that
also a wider audience will be informed. Instead,
the positive thank-you letter seems to be a rather
private matter.
I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
Like the private letter, the language of the open
letter not only allows feelings, but it is also highly
personal. Both feelings and the personal might
be the reasons why art critics avoid the genre of
An Paenhuysen
open letter writing. Many art critics embrace the
impersonal and the objective, sometimes even to
the point of avoiding a clear, singular positioning.
Sincere and authentic might sound cheesy, but
they define the spirit behind I Am Writing To... Open
Letters in Art Criticism. These letters were written by
worldwide based art critics during the online course
Creative Forms in Art Writing at Node Center
Curatorial Studies Online. It is suprising, but all
the letters ended up being positive, and this is not
because negative thoughts were censured. Yet,
dont we all know that expressing gratitude is not an
easy thing to do privately, and does it get any easier
when your praise goes public?
 Hanako Fujii
6 7
to Chris Kraus
Auckland, New Zealand
Saturday, September 5, 2015
08:21am
Dear Chris, Catt, and Sylvie,
In beginning this open letter I immediately think back
to two days prior. A funeral a moment of excess fresh
in my mind. I broke away from the feeling of grief once
my best friend took to the podium. She was to make a
Hanako Fujii
formal dedication to her late father. Its strange because
its a tired format, a ritual, but unavoidably personal and
expectedly devastating. Though the display was of more
strength than sadness. Her conviction and intellect was
a lasting impression of her fathers influence. It was an
embodied thank you.
It seems then that its difficult to talk about someones
lasting impression without effectively embodying the
result of their influence. I would hope that this open
letter is then both a self-conscious and subconscious
display of the way I think, after having read your writing.
Admittedly, I am unsure as to whether I am addressing
you as Chris Kraus the author, or as the Chris Kraus
within the characters of Chris, Catt and Sylvie. I am
content with this ambiguity. Im also not sure if this is an
attempt to imitate your writing. I suppose it is indeed.
Thinking in a roundabout, contradictory way comes
I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
easily. Its because what I have read of yours allows me
to. Combining fiction with nonfiction, while inserting art
criticism with feminist connotations is honest and candid
and makes me want to evoke something similar. Its
audacious and I want to be audacious.
Aliens and Anorexia was the first book. I think its one that I
will always go back to. Im very glad to have read that first
Hanako Fujii
because it is set in New Zealand and I am obsessed with
place. I also understand you went to Victoria University
in Wellington. I only almost went there. I wonder if
you would consider yourself a New Zealander. Im very
interested in this sort of expat, migrant, dislocated life. I
like to think that your idea of Lonely Girl Phenomenology
is related to this somehow. The Lonely Girl as the
physically and metaphorically dislocated self. It could be
the most un-lonely way of thinking.
I never realized the extent to which my thoughts are
influenced by place. Or influenced by a lack of place or too
many places. Its the contradiction of becoming insular.
I think this idea recurs throughout your novels the
prominence of long-distance driving back and forth. Its
relevant as I am about to leave New Zealand for some time
and I am not sure if that means I will be a migrant again,
or an expat. I am resolutely useless in either category.
 8 9
You said there was a lot of madness here because it is a
mean and isolated little country. To others it still carries
the idea of the Godzone. I feel and know both notions,
its a living contradiction. Ive suddenly carried around
with me a recurring feeling of nausea. Counting down the
days before my departure and the effect is physical, the
nausea is coming from the middle of my spine. Or maybe
Hanako Fujii
its the pull of the Super Moon. Sometimes I find myself
thinking that I am leaving to come back.
My assumption is that your novels are about you, only in
the sense that you use yourself to talk about something
bigger than yourself. I would want to imitate your
writing in that regard. A selfless selfishness. I especially
like when you talk about physical and metaphorical
entrapment, as I connect it to identity politics and
the capitalist society we live in. Entrapment. Its the
institution inside of us.
I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
I often think that making a film about Aliens and Anorexia
would be my next project. Maybe not an adaption, but
it would be in conversation with your work. Lonely Girl
Phenomenology can be a hypothetical thesis. It can start
Hanako Fujii
here. A thesis as an embodied performance, an ambitious
attempt to un-bludgeon my subjectivity.
In mentioning my friends dedication to her father, its
probably clear that I think ideas are best shown through
correspondence. When there is a dialogue to create a sort
of instinctual affect. It makes me think of the lengthy
emails exchanged between myself and a friend from high
school after she moved to Los Angeles. We use these
emails to talk to each other, and I think ultimately it
helps us to talk to ourselves.
I saw this resonate through the letters Chris wrote in I
Love Dick, as she was writing to herself and to everyone
like her. None of it was really about Dick. It never is.
Hanako
 Mercedes
10
Carriquiry to
Sophie Calle
September 10, 2015 - 23:56
Montevideo, Uruguay
Salut Sophie,
Mercedes Carriquiry
Im caught by your work. Dont get
cocky and stop reading; I havent
been snooping around for long. I
actually met you (if I can say so)
in Colombia three years ago. I saw
your exhibition douleur exquise
in Bogot. Im not sure if seen is
the right verb, I suffered it. How
could you? I never though I could
experiment grief ever (Im way
beyond insensitive), even less that I
could own somebody elses angoisse.
11 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
Maybe the fact that you used your
writing, your photographs, your art
and mise en scene, made it so soul
stirring. Im not sure, it does still
not sound enough. The repeated
boards really created the sensation
of time, and made it very Oulipo
style (personal stamp yeah..). If ever
somebody would ask me how does it
Mercedes Carriquiry
feel to agonizingly forget I will know
what to say.
I am not particularly a big fan of
your art in terms of aesthetics but
the mixture of your photographs
and writing the moment I start
reading, bang Im gone. Thats
probably what Auster talks about in
Leviatan, the ambiguity of what you
do and the difficulty of classifying as
photographer/artist/writer is kind of
thrilling too.
 12 13 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen

I wont flatter your work all night

long; there is still a lot to be read for
somebody who is very, very, new at
this art-thing. Just letting you know
that the fact you could transmit
Mallarms angoisse in an exhibi-
tion was for me not only inspiring
Mercedes Carriquiry

Mercedes Carriquiry
but also hopeful. It definitely encour-
aged me to find the way to transmit
whats going on up there.

I took the rest of the day off that

day, I couldnt keep visiting. It
sucked the tears out of me (not a big
deal, art is the only thing that has
made me cry so far). If I ever reach
that level of power and openness
in an exhibition I will not only write
back, but will also owe it to your Best,
inspiration. Partially. Mercedes
 Alex
14 15 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen

Bowron
to Jon

April 25, 2015

Dearest Jon,

About eight years ago I left a Sunday morning drop-in life

drawing session because I needed to step outside and cry. I
had been struggling that day to get my lines just right and my
Alex Bowron

Alex Bowron
frustration hit me hard. From a fountain of tears sprung my lifes
only true epiphany: I cared more about producing a competent
2-minute sketch then I did about anything else I had done
up until that point. I knew then that I needed art, and once I
understood how to get it, there was no turning back.

One of the most important skills I have learned since then is

how to curb my empathy just enough so that I can function
in the real world. Despite the hardships of a tricky income, I
devote my life to seeking, making, thinking and writing about
art because it not only tolerates but encourages and rewards my
imagination. Art recognizes that imagination is a skill.
 16 17 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen

What I want you to gather from all of this is that I stay in

the game because of artists like you. I am driven by art that
requires imagination and forces me to learn new things. Your
work takes the stuff of this world and hands it back to us in
fully recognizable but entirely new ways. You possess an almost
dogmatic lack of commitment to any one medium. In making,
you are able to acknowledge the endless details of your materials
(ideas, people, locations). You possess the skills to disassemble
Alex Bowron

Alex Bowron
and reconfigure in ways that achieve the most amount of change
with the least amount of intervention. I respect your devotion to
building a life that requires you to function as a master of many
trades (researcher, explorer, laborer, engineer, administrator,
project manager) and a Jack of none.

Only you can so effectively represent the tragedy of being bound

by the limitations of ones own makeup through the erratic
gyrations of a tubular air dancing fly guy.

Thank you for that.

Alex
 Annette Abel
18
to Harald
Szeemann
Dear Harald,
or Harry as you have always signed your letters
its been ten years now that you have died and quite
often I am asking myself what I have done on this
day in February 2005. But no matter how hard I try I
cant remember. Isn't it weird that sometimes only
retrospectively we understand the significance
of events? Isnt it almost like history has the
tendency to be constructed retrospectively
Annette Abel
rather than in the present?
Although I cant precisely remember
what I've done on the day of your death,
I can still remember that around the same
time I became aware of my obsession for
art and decided to the disappointment of my
parents to give up my studies in literature. At
this point in my life verbs like curating, nouns like
curator or definitions like artist-curators were instead of a 10000 exhibition visitors who do not truly
hardly on my mind. Nowadays, these words and ideas
rule my mind
During the last six years of my life, your work and your
theoretical bequeathal has turned into the main ally
of my thoughts and ideas.Many of your ideas have
accompanied my daily walks, they brought me to the
verge of despair while interpreting them, Ive met-
aphorically danced with them, Ive criticized them,
19 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
Ive tried to fight against them, Ive been obsessed
by them, Ive tried to banish them and although I've
turned and twisted them, they became fundamental
parts of my very existence and carried me through life.
I think you would be quite surprised how fundamen-
tally things have changed the last decades in the art
system. Although you had been fundamentally import-
ant for the definition of the profession of a freelance
curator, I question that you would favor all the
ongoing developments. Instead of a clearly
defined profession, curatorship has become a
new fashionable career perspective along
Annette Abel
the lines of "I Curate, You Curate, We
Curate". Curatorial programs at uni-
versities, curators as artists, artists as
curators, biennales, everything aesthet-
icized, everyone can do everything but only
a few seem to be able to do things properly.
You once said it is better to have just a few visitors
that are willing to truly see and feel the artwork
care. What happened to the purpose of art to comfort
the disturbance and disturb the comfort?
Harry, I am very well aware of the fact that you won't
answer my questions and that the only thing that
seems left for me now is to go once more on a long
walk by myself and talk to you in a thousand silent
voices.
Annette
 Claudio
20
Cravero
to Rirkrit
Tiravanija
Claudio Cravero
Re: From relational art to utopian art
Dear Rirkrit,
We were introduced to one another on
the occasion of your trip across UAE with
Philippe Parreno and Anri Sala. Actually,
we didnt talk exactly in person there, but,
nevertheless, I was so much seduced by
our silence in that conversation that I feel
such a level of propinquity with you, so I can
call you friendly dear. In fact, this silent
likemindedness pushes me to get in touch
with you to involve you in one of my biggest
dreams. And if it is true that greatness is
usually accompanied by audacity, I dare to
ask you as follows:
21 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
So, to keep it short, let me just say I was not
only amazed, but exponentially bewildered
and fascinated while walking through your
Jardin des syncrtismes in Sharjah.Therefore,
I dream to import and adapt your magical
and lustful garden on the borderline that
separates Saudi Arabia from Bahrain. As you
Claudio Cravero
probably know, discontents between the
two Kingdoms occur on a daily basis, and
religious restrictions avoid peoples leisure
in public spaces.
With all that in mind, I was also reflecting
on the word Utopia. It originally stems
from ancient Greek and stands for a non-
place, both ideal and unattainable. This
image is something that recurs frequently
when we think about Eden, paradise, or
whichever garden with luxuriant greenery.
However, it is a matter of fact that a garden
exudes sensuality in every corner with its
vegetal extracts. Exactly the way you did by
planting tea seeds, aromatic plants and a
thousand of roses. In the end, the roots of
 22 23 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen

eroticism are basically love, arent they? Do

you know how great your seeds of love are
in terms of allowing peoples benevolence
to flourish?I know your concept within this
artwork was no longer relational, it was
rather based on a meditative status. And
we are aware that the more we meditate
Claudio Cravero

Claudio Cravero
listening to the present, the less frightened
by the future we become. Beyond any kind
of differences and overshadowing conflicts.
Since as a dreamer I am convinced that
dreams can come true, I am thinking
that visionary non-places can become
real and not only ideal. From your lesson
on relational art we have learnt that the
strength of contemporary art resides in the Lets think about it, and feel free to ask me
power to transform the goals into means. any further questions after perusing my
If you think about your interventions and attachment.
performances, you and Philippe have always
wished to reach an authentic relationship I look forward to receiving from you and
with the public attending your dinners. sharing dreams.
But the same relationship, which was meant
as an end of your process, became the All my best utopias,
means to reach. Wasnt that amazing? Claudio
 Flavia Dalla
24 25 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen

Bernardina
to Marina
Abramovi
Dear Marina,

Ive always wanted to stare at you in silence like in that performance

you once did I dont remember when or where.

Id like to talk to you unpretentiously. Im not sure whether you drink

or not, but it would be nice to have a bottle of wine, so maybe we
Flavia Dalla Bernardina

Flavia Dalla Bernardina

could laugh a bit or say things we dont mean to. That might connect
us or at least break the ice (for me). Maybe you wont need any kind of
camouflages to let go, but I still do.

I imagine that I will be all excited talking about things I dont know,
things that I didnt read, experiences I did not have. While youll be in
silence, with those profound eyes of yours, saying one or two things
very gently in a generous way. Sometimes youll say things you dont
want to, although you believe in them. This is what happens when you
perform life: you live so much, you experience so much that you dont
have room for words. Its all in your body like tattoos you cant never
erase. Your life and your performances are one. Or you are a shadow of
your own life, performing a constant performer role.
 26 27 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
Flavia Dalla Bernardina

Flavia Dalla Bernardina

Of course I am creating our conversation, I am creating you right now.
The you that I want to talk with, I want to learn from. Theres nothing
wrong with that, considering its practically impossible for us to really
meet. Unless we walk through the Walls of China and meet right in
the middle of it. Once we reach this absurd point we would stare at
each other with an old eye of recognition and empathy. Then we would
smile without showing our teeth. We might hug or not, Im not sure
yet, but Ill think about it. And then we would walk back to our own
path, lonely as everyone elses life, but with one conviction: anything
can happen. Being shadows, performers or dreamers.

Flavia
 Marina Kassianidou
28
September 06, 2015
to Francis Als choose so; in fact, before seeing your work I
(in Four Parts) Dear Mr Als,
Two days ago, I saw your work, The Silence
of Ani (2015), at the Istanbul Biennial and I
wanted to share that experience with you.
None of my friends and colleagues have
seen the work, which makes it difficult to
talk about it with them. And even if they
had seen it, you would still be the best
person to talk to, about how my encounter
with the work unfolded:
Marina Kassianidou
The Silence The space was quiet. The film had ended
and was about to restart. The benches were
full and people were standing along the
walls, whispering. I found some space near
a corner. The whispers faded as a nearly
mute landscape of ruins, with wind gushing
through the wild vegetation and stray rocks,
appeared on the screen. I stood on my
toes, peering between peoples heads and
shoulders and swaying left and right.
(Before continuing, I should mention that,
in general, I have little patience for videos
and films in an art exhibition, let alone a
biennale. I especially dislike long videos
that follow a set story with a beginning,
middle, and end. I find their attempts to
control my time rather frustrating. As an
artist working with drawing and collage,
I have a different relationship to time. I
29 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
can devote hours looking at a drawing if I
had just spent fifty minutes with a drawing
by another artist. Videos, however, seem
to make that choice for me I have to see
them from beginning to end. That makes
me uneasy. Call it juvenile if you must but
there it is. The experience becomes even
more frustrating when I dont know how
long a video is. I usually watch it for a few
minutes and then wander away, without
ever knowing at which point in the story
I entered and at which point I left. It was,
thus, a bit disappointing to walk into the
Marina Kassianidou
space and to discover that your work
was mainly a video with a story and an
unidentified duration. I started watching,
not sure how long I would be able to stay
I had to get to Istanbul Modern in half an
hour for a talk by another artist.)
The Birds A few moments into the film, bird sounds
are heard, softening the muteness of the
ruins and the harshness of the wind.
The person standing in front of me a
very tall man by my standards moved,
blocking my view. I tilted to the right to
regain access to the landscape. A nearby
woman glared at me and I nearly tumbled
over. As the bird sounds grew louder, I
realized that I hadnt turned off my cell
phone. Then I remembered that it wasnt
working. Since arriving in Istanbul, I had no
signal. Nobody could call me.
 30
The Performers Gradually the performers revealed
themselves: several teenagers holding
strange-looking instruments, hiding in the
plants surrounding the ruins, making bird
sounds with their instruments, running,
crouching, listening, making more sounds.
The sounds crescendo and combine into
almost-music, a concert of fabricated
birdcalls, wind, and moving human bodies.
All these merge, becoming something else.
The performers stop being imitators of
bird sounds and begin becoming-birds; the
wind and birdcalls are becoming-music; the
landscape is becoming-alive; everything is
Marina Kassianidou
becoming-landscape.
I have to say and it is rather
embarrassing that it was moving. Not
in a sentimental way but moving in that
something somehow moved in the
video, in the sound, in the landscape, in the
performers, in the space, in me.
The Silence As the film proceeds, the sounds diminuendo.
In attempting to reach out to something other
the non-existent birds, the landscape, the
past the performers become tired and fall
asleep amidst the ruins.
Returning to silence felt odd. It was
technically the same silence we began
with the landscape, the ruins, and the
wind. Nobody in the audience moved or
whispered. The man in front of me and the
woman nearby seemed hypnotized. I had
31 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
somehow found a perfect balance and was
no longer swaying, even though I was still
standing on my toes. Delicate silence and
stillness. We were almost in a different
place.
When the film ended, someone was
clapping. I moved quickly towards a bench
and sat down. The film started again.
I wanted to ask, did the performers actually
sleep or were they pretending? Not that
Marina Kassianidou
it matters. To become exhausted in an
attempt to achieve the impossible to lure
birds back to a ruined place
is an absurd
and admirable pursuit indeed, whether it
occurred or not. Another question: Were the
performers different when they woke up? I
imagine they would be.
Before I end, I have the following request:
If you ever use the bird instruments for
another piece and need performers, can you
please let me know? I cannot read music
sheets and I am completely tone deaf. Give
me one of those instruments, however, and
let me run in a field, and I am confident I
could sing, eventually.
With best wishes,
Marina Kassianidou
 Maeve Hanna to
32
curator Marnie
Fleming, Oakville
Galleries (Canada)
Dear Marnie Fleming,
I never saw it, your final show Youve
Really Got a Hold on Me, from the
permanent collection. But for me, it
really summarizes the strength that
you had as a curator of contempo-
rary art. On Oakville Galleries web-
Maeve Hanna
page I read: On the occasion of my
retirement, I am taking this oppor-
tunity to share some of the acqui-
sitions that resonate most strongly
for me. art that has moved me,
challenged me and made me think
in new and unexpected ways during
my twenty-plus years here. It is a
sentence that says a lot about your
curatorial practice: compassionately
and gently caressing art into exhibi-
tions so they sang to the visitor.
33 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
Before moving out west, I did see
your Freedom of Assembly. The title
itself: quick, witty and clever. As I
grow, I intend to keep a list of witty
titles that I can return to: titling an
exhibition is a challenge in itself.
Maeve Hanna
You were two steps ahead at every
turn, vigorously researching in your
quiet office that overlooked Lake
Ontario. When I climbed the stairs
in the morning to go to my shared
office I would peer into yours at the
top of the stairs. There you would be
at your desk, overlooking a beautiful
bay window with a view of the Lake.
You showed me a webcam you had
set up outside that was taking stills
 34
of the lake for an art project. Every
five seconds it would capture the
character of the lake, ever changing,
through time of day, seasons.
Through sun, hail, snow and wind.
I imagine that after 30 years with
that view, from that window in
particular, you will miss it. You were
a Virginia Woolf with a room of your
Maeve Hanna
own and a view where you wrote,
and you did so beautifully.
Your exhibitions had moods, for the
walls changed with each new install.
Deep burgundy or gold. Sometimes
shy grey and others, the deepest
black. Then a glowing pink, like the
happy cheeks of a newborn baby.
Freedom of Assembly was a
35 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
revelatory exhibition for me. It
seemed so simple, but wasnt. Is
collage simple? You ran with it -
moving away from this stagnant idea
of collage paper and glue and
demonstrated all the different ways
we can see it: sculpture, assemblage,
Maeve Hanna
paintings even. You looked at
collage from, as Joni Mitchell might
say, both sides now and more
even, multiple angles, and in such
innovative and compelling ways.
Thank you for sharing your
knowledge, your curatorial vision.
You have had a resonating impact
on me.
Maeve
 Annalisa Pellino to the
36
non-participants of
the Forum of Italian
Contemporary Art
Dear non-participants,
Last weekend I went to the Forum of Italian Contem-
porary Art, the first meeting organized by the Luigi
Pecci Center for Contemporary Art in Prato (Tuscany)
that aimed to propose new strategies to revitalize the
Italian art system.I t was a challenging three-days tour
de force of forty roundtable discussions, with about
ten speakers each and an indefinite number of atten-
dants, most of them professionals.
Annalisa Pellino
On the one hand, I was impressed by the fact that,
contrary to my expectations, most of the speakers were
younger than the average age of those who usually
take part in that kind of conference in Italy. But on the
other hand, I must say, I got a strange feeling in not
meeting there many of you, I mean that large group of
independent and young people we are part of: curators,
art historian and critics, art bloggers and artists. This
fact led me to the following line of thought: we belong
to a generation aged between 30 and 40, which has to
deal with a scenario made of a general and endemic
both in the institutional and independent field job
insecurity. That means a lack of a professional identity
and recognition and, in other words, to be part of a
cultural working-class without a working-class culture,
which is definitely Italian in a certain way and quite
hard to translate in other languages.
37 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
Interesting, this issue about language and the
embarrassment, the incompleteness present in every
attempt of translation! It was the topic of a roundtable
on the issue La lingua italiana proposed by the artist
Cesare Pietroiusti, the most interesting talk in my
opinion. It focused on the fact that in an English
speaking art world the mother tongue is a competence
we often have to give up, whereby we risk to loose
not only the chance to speak that is to express our
personal voice in an incisive, poetic and emotional
way but also to think. What about our analytical
thinking skills in absence of a mother tongue?
The oddity is that I found the roundtable titled
Annalisa Pellino
Revitalizing art criticism equally interesting and
complementary to the first one, but unfortunately it
was held concurrently. Which one would you choose
to participate in? I simply decided to go back and
forth between both, to mash up my notes while giving
green light to free associations and thoughts. How to
reinvent the language of art criticism in order to give
it more strength and efficacy in communication?
I would love to know your opinion! The podcast of
each discussion should be available next week and I
hope you will have the chance and the willingness to
listen. So, lets start to bring the debate in a wider and
pluralistic roundtable in order to think of new proposals
for a discussion panel in the forums second edition.
Im looking forward to hearing from you.
Annalisa
 Sarah Mercadante
38 39 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen

to Nadia

Dear Nadia,

Today I write to you even if its a strange way for me to talk to

you. My intentions are good and the letter format seems to be
the appropriate medium to express what I want to reveal to
an atypic, surprising and sparkling woman like you. Take it as
a declaration of my respect towards your involvement in the
arts, your speech, and your friendly approach when we first
Sarah Mercadante

Sarah Mercadante
met.

I am still startled by the simplicity of how you explain the

gallerists job. Last December, for instance, you described your
show as a way to drink wine and spend time with the artists
you support. I cant imagine my face when you said that! I was
really taken aback by the freshness of your words.

Despite your statement, the artworks of the exhibition

were tenderly displayed. It made clear to me that the
connections between the artworks on display went beyond
the traditional way of exhibition making with a thematic or
aesthetic proposal. As a young curator I force myself to have
 40 41 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen

a theoretical consistency in my shows. It seems to me that

otherwise, the exhibition will be a huge mess. But you taught
me that it could be much more than following the rules. You
dare to try things no matter if something limps. You carry on
with your heart convinced that working in art makes you a
better person. I share your vision on that point.
Sarah Mercadante

Sarah Mercadante
How is it possible to feel such a connection with only three
encounters? Maybe two passionate souls always end up
speaking together. By the way, when I explained to you my
way of working, you told me that it was the same mindset that
made you create a gallery.

Our work will cross during the next decades. I dont care if it will
be by mail correspondence, in a gloomy caf or during a fleeting
visit of our respective events as long as we stay in touch.

Yours sincerely,
Sarah
 Sujin Jung
42
to Fatih
Akin
Dear Fatih Akin
Sujin Jung
Today, I watched your film Soul Kitchen, which I always
wanted to watch but, for some reason, I did not do so.
My friend, who likes Japanese film, recommended it
to me and the movie title made me think it would be a
Japanese film. Talking about food (of course, it might
eventually be talking about something through food)
is a trend in Japanese film. Well, obviously not! Its a
German film! That was really interesting and funny to
me, haha.
However, what is more impressive than how silly I was,
is the location of this film and the human relationships
it displays. It makes me want to do an exhibition based
on film! Watching your film, I cannot help thinking
I would like to visit your Soul Kitchen and create a
similar kind of place.
43 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
Probably, my thought expressed here above is
inspired by nowadays Korean art scene. The fact that
I watched this film right now is fortunate and great
timing, haha. Because, nowadays, there are many
places that are being remodelled and those places are
used for exhibitions, cafs, etc. However, what I was
thinking about is a little different: I would like to make
an exhibition about those kind of places. It would be
an exhibition for the soul, just like the chefs dishes
in your movie are for the soul. Arent you curious
about this exhibition, which might be fantastic? I will
give you a sneak peek just in case you are really really
curious about this:
Sujin Jung
Hello, I am todays tour guide! The exhibition is based
on the film Soul Kitchen directed by Fatih Akin. Have
you ever thought about an exhibition that is based
on a film? In the film, the main character bought an
old warehouse and remodelled it into a restaurant.
So, we can see an old warehouse being changed into a
restaurant where everyone can not only have dinner
but also enjoy their time. This way it turns from being
an abandoned place into a location where everyone
want to hang out. We can see the human relationships
inside this transformed place. This exhibition focuses
on that moment in the film. Its about places that
change from being a factory, a motel in the past, to
being used as an art museum. Plus, it deals with the
relationships and events inside those places. Lets
move on to the first room. Its most interesting that
 44 45 I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen

we are seeing the places inside the place. I mean, this art
museum was also a warehouse before. However, recently
it was remodelled and now it holds this exhibition! You
can still see some traces. So, I can say that this show
Sujin Jung

Sujin Jung
displays kind of art-works inside a kind of art-work!
Oh, the must-do thing in this exhibition is actually the
exhibit-related program, which is also a tour! You can
visit those places in person. If you want to participate,
make a reservation as soon as possible, because its really
popular! (To Be Continued)

How was the guided tour? I hope you enjoy this. Imagine P.S. I wish I could send you a voice-file of my guided tour, haha!
that this exhibition happened for real. How awesome it
would be. Hahaha. Oh, I almost forgot to say this, I have
never seen this kind of lovely film before; thank you very
much for making this film! Oh, lets talk about other
subjects in this film later, definitely!

Best wishes,
Sujin Jung
Voices
Hanako Fujii
Hanako has the low, mumbling tones
of New Zealand's Southern plains,
complete with a sharp rolling R
not yet overtaken by the extended
vowels of the North. Though the
subtle singsong simplicity of her
Japanese voice also remains. Unlike
the result of translation, the intention
is distinct. It's the blunt edge of her
Kansai heritage.
Mercedes Carriquiry
There is no anonymity in Uruguay,
at least not the one that lasts. You
can grasp sporadically a glimpse
of privacy (only sporadically) and it
will soon be gone. The country size,
the small population or the slow
way of life may be the reason. All the
same, as cozy as being 24/7 home
may sound, the result is Uruguayans
living under the gaze; an annoying,
troubling gaze. Cozy, l'abriat
home, still unable to get away.
Alex Bowron
My Geographical Voice oscillates
between caution and combat. It is
trained in adaptation and attention
to detail. By remaining silent it can
access intellect and intuition as one.
46
Annette Abel
Nietzsche, Kant, Adorno The
Germans define themselves as the
nation of poets and philosophers
and surely it is true that they are
obsessed by theory, by details as well
as by knowledge. Yet, it almost seems
as if their long dead thinkers have
become ghosts inside of them they
too often obey to and that sometimes
even deprives them from finding
their own/individual voice.
Claudio Cravero
Saudi Arabias art scene is as tense as
the hot air The Kingdom discharges
in summer.While the Government
still oscillates between timid supports
and strong public censorship, the
artists continuously stretch the
boundaries of what is considered art
in the country. Since their childhood
they learn to double-deal with their
social and private face: the two sides
of the same coin.
Flavia Dalla Bernardina
I feel like a no man's land, as if I
belonged nowhere and everywhere
at the same time. I could live
anywhere and speak so many
languages I wouldn't have time
in this life to learn them all. I am
split in so many countries, cultures
and colors, disguised in a loud
and expansive caucasian Brazilian
woman, with Italian citizenship.
47
Marina Kassianidou
Voices live within, are formed by,
and are shared between bodies.
Cypriots intuitively know this. They
talk by waving their arms, swinging
their legs, bouncing up and down,
contorting their faces, transforming
their postures, reaching out towards
their listeners, and continuously
altering the tone, volume, and
rhythm of their voice. A total,
lived-in, embodied mode of (mis)
communication.
Maeve Hanna
Maeve Hanna is Assistant Curator at
Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George,
BC Canada, 9 hours from anywhere
and everywhere. The dichotomy
between East and West as opposed
to North and South becomes very
pronounced once you cross the
Rocky Mountain Range bridging
Alberta and British Columbia.
The mountains are staggeringly
high, cut off weather patterns and
communication with the other
side in some ways. The West is all
photo conceptualist, First Nations
iconography rehashed in the 21st
century in neon lights and graffiti on
gallery walls. East is Toronto bound
(up in).
I am Writing To... Open Letters in Art Criticism (Notebook), ed. An Paenhuysen
Annalisa Pellino
Italians are self-referential. They
dont really trust collaboration
and are not confident in sharing
competence and creativity. On the
contrary, they have a masturbatory
attitude in talking and chatting and
twitting not really having anything
to say. They dont see participation as
an occasion to be present but as one
to make an appearance.
Sarah Mercadante
I'm a young curator in Paris, my
native town. At the moment I curate
exhibitions in non-official places with
artists I trust, or sometimes I curate
to test if it works between our way
to work. Ultimately, I try to escape
the loud and speedy rhythm of the
French capital.
Sujin Jung
In South Korea, everything suddenly
becomes trend and suddenly
becomes old-fashioned. It looks
like there are a lot of changes,
but in fact, it never changes since
the class with power is always the
same. Making a real change barely
happens. Also, although there
are tons of contradictions and
distortions, everyone is really good at
pretending we are doing well, even
the best, if only just among the Asian
countries.
 Published by Node Center Curatorial Studies Online
www.nodecenter.net 2016 Node Center and the authors