I practise, therefore I am or: Swim with the waves

It’s all about contact – in the encounter with myself and in the experience with others. Calligraphy meets upcycling book art and after six hours I go home through the rain a different person than the one I came as. More is not possible in the best sense. Again, it’s literally hands on and on top of that, ears and hearts open. What happened?

With the front door still open, one’s gaze immediately falls on this colourful carpet of pairs of shoes next to the stairs and triggers a feeling of comfort. This is where people meet. This is where people arrive. This is where you are welcomed. Then they walk up the stairs on their stockings. The windows of the room are wide open and the incoming air of the rain mixes with the scent of an incense stick, delicately and involuntarily. The room fills with people and will do so again and again throughout this Saturday; a joining, pausing, children moving to another room to play, accompanied by their parents or a companion. There is, for example, a young Chinese family with their two children who have travelled all the way from Leipzig; another couple who arrived in Germany only a fortnight ago and are now looking for a home and a job; two young Chinese women with a study and work background in Dresden… The talk of neighbourliness now takes on a much larger dimension. And the idea of cultural exchange is thereby turned upside down and experienced practically. At the same time, we experience a (mutual) role reversal. Put simply: Here “expert”, there “learner”. A so-called “home match” becomes an “away match”. A so-called home match becomes an away match, then again a familiar playing field, to finally become new territory again.

The so-called “seal script” in its straightness and (inner) beauty is the first medium of our cultural practice on this day in Altstrehlen. With our knowledgeable calligraphy expert Hongfeng Yang at our side, we learn about the traditional, fundamental Chinese principles and hear the triad of “patience – calm – concentration”. And in the middle of it all, the spotlight comes on: the practice of writing, the posture (a straight back when calligraphing) and the mental attitude (a wide, calm heart with a flowing breath) simultaneously mark an inner attitude. With the talk of the “virtuous person” and a “virtuous life and deeds”, we find ourselves en passent in a stimulating dialogue. The word “virtuous” quickly comes up in relation to the (working) ideals of orderliness, discipline and reliability. And what do you think about that, it shouts across the room. Our conversations across the tables mark, as becomes immediately clear, a multiple translation work according to mutual horizons of understanding in relation to language, semantics and culture.The so-called “seal script” in its straightness and (inner) beauty is the first medium of our cultural practice on this day in Altstrehlen. With our knowledgeable calligraphy expert Hongfeng Yang at our side, we learn about the traditional, fundamental Chinese principles and hear the triad of “patience – calm – concentration”. And in the middle of it all, the spotlight comes on: the practice of writing, the posture (a straight back when calligraphing) and the mental attitude (a wide, calm heart with a flowing breath) simultaneously mark an inner attitude. With the talk of the “virtuous person” and a “virtuous life and deeds” we find ourselves en passent in a stimulating dialogue. The word “virtuous” quickly comes up in relation to the (working) ideals of orderliness, discipline and reliability. And what do you think about that, it shouts across the room. Our conversations across the tables mark, as becomes immediately clear, a multiple translation work according to mutual horizons of understanding in relation to language, semantics and culture.

And again and again the sound of the Chinese language as an acoustic contact zone. I feel called upon without my mind being able to perform its usual game of understanding.

And then it’s time to dive into the jungle (again). Various creative paper/book architectures as the second medium on this day go into work and visibly conquer the tables. Now we already know each other a little. For example, photos of the children on their mobile phones are passed across the table with smiles on their faces. I look at the wall opposite me. There is calligraphy hanging on it. I ask Hongfeng what it means: “Swim with the waves”, she says.