You have to look for the space, but it’s worth it. In it, the third of Judith Hummel’s films runs in an endless loop: In “Where do I come from? – Stage 3”, the camerawoman Laura Kansy accompanies the Munich performer and her mother Margret on the last part of the journey that Judith’s grandmother Barbara took between 1944 and 1952 from Săcălaz in Romania to Germany. It goes through Austria in this most documentary, most direct result of the performative research that began in 2019, on foot, with a backpack and nine questions that reveal dreams, failures and an enviably open mother-daughter relationship. Parts 1 and 2 can also be seen in the installation in the DG Kunstraum, which brings together works by Hummel and the painter Esther Zahel in the “Doppelpass” series until November 9th.
On October 19th, the two will present the exhibition catalog and their sisterly embracing but artistically different approaches to a complex of topics that the title of the show outlines with a Zahel quote: “Your hand on my shoulder”. Moments in which people, places and times touch each other and in which one feels at home: Judith Hummel, born in Freiburg in 1982, lures them out with rituals such as rubbing bricks into dust, which her grandmother played as peppers in her grocery store game as a child has used. She gets to the bottom of her own roots with her walking, dancing, exposing body and carefully scans people and places for memories and emotions. Failure included, “We’re in no man’s land. What am I supposed to feel?” says Margret in the film.
What you feel when you look at Esther Zahel’s 2.50 meter high paintings, which structure the exhibition like partitions, has a lot to do with you. Using charcoal, chalk and acrylic, the 23-year-old visual artist who lives and works in Augsburg portrays human-free spaces. They have the flat appearance of childish felt-tip pen drawings and have titles with a commanding character – “We have to talk” – or refer to biographical things such as “My mother-in-law’s sourdough”. Their sketchiness and individual objects that stand out in color pose questions to the visitor: How would it be to pick up the book lying there ready to read or the blue cup whose color calls to you?
The works of the two artists meet in their openness – and in the way they leave traces. At Hummel, they also attract visitors with colorful buttons on the gallery or into the city via an audio tour. And as with the journey to yourself, several attempts and visits to exhibitions are worthwhile.
“Your hand on my shoulder”, until November 9th, DG Kunstraum, Wittelsbacher-Platz 2., catalog presentation and conversation with the artists, Thursday, October 19th, 7 p.m., information at www.dg-kunstraum.de