Reading: Nahaufnahmen (engl.: close ups)
In reference to & continuation of the reading Körperbilder I Johanna Hansen, Monika Littau & Birgit Kölgen will read texts from “Nahaufnahmen”, a special edition of the literary magazine WORTSCHAU in cooperation with the Sprengel Museum/Hannover.
Johanna Hansen/Düsseldorf, author, painter, book illustrator and editor of the literary magazine WORTSCHAU, Monika Littau/Bonn, author and Birgit Kölgen, cultural journalist and author will come in reference to and continuation of the reading Körperbilder I once again now as part of the exhibition Nach der Zukunft / Post Future. They read texts from the special edition Nahaufnamen from 2024, a cooperation with the Sprengel Museum in Hannover.
In it, 35 invited authors comment on 20 works by female visual artists from the museum’s collection. The deliberately literary positions and the respective works in the special edition of WORTSCHAU can thus be understood as a counter-perspective to the dominant art-historical canon.
All of the texts that were created can be read in the special edition of WORTSCHAU, Nahaufnahmen (engl.: close ups). Johanna Hansen and Monika Littau have made a selection for the reading, which they present in conjunction with the respective works.
Johanna Hansen
Hansen is an author, painter, book illustrator and editor of the literary magazine WORTSCHAU.
Studied German and philosophy in Bonn. Initially a teacher and journalist. Three years residence in Davos/Switzerland. Numerous exhibitions and participations in exhibitions since 1993. Since 2008 publications mainly of poetry in combination with her own pictures. Performances, book/CD projects and poetry films have been created in collaboration with musicians and composers. Her poems have been translated into various languages and her work has received numerous awards, most recently the Feldkirch Poetry Prize 2024.
Monika Littau
Littau is an author. She studied German and theology, later geography in Bonn and musicology in Münster. She began publishing literary texts in the 1970s and has been writing full-time since 2007. She has now published almost 20 individual works in various fields (prose/novels, poetry, children’s books, radio plays, theater, cultural education and science). She also conceives and supervises projects such as postpoetry.NRW and occasionally works as a guest poet in the academic field, for example at the Ocean University of China in Quingdao in 2017. As a writer, she has been politically organized in the Association of German Writers (VS) in ver.di since 1984. She served on the NRW state board for several years, most recently as temporary chairwoman in 2008. She is currently chairwoman of the Society for Literature in NRW e.V. She was recently awarded the Bonn Literature Prize 2021.
Birgit Kölgen
Kölgen, born in Düsseldorf in 1954, studied German and philosophy. Cultural journalist and author. After half a lifetime as a cultural editor and head of department at the NRZ and Westfälische Rundschau, she moved to the south of Germany in 1998 and set up her own business. Wrote about culture, travel and lifestyle for publications across the country. Returned to her hometown of Düsseldorf in 2013. Writes art and theater criticism, essays and biographies.
