Letters in the Dark: Franz Kafka and Milena Jesenská at Benrubi Gallery
By Frederick Henderson
© Muke Wang
The Benrubi Gallery is exhibiting, Letters in the Dark: Franz Kafka and Milena Jesenká, the latest work of media artist and photographer Doug Hall. The exhibition is comprised of two synchronized black and white projections and a photographic series. It focuses on the love letters between Franz Kafka and Milena Jesenká. Whilst Kafka’s letters have survived, Jesenká’s have not. Hall recreated the letters using samples of Jesenká’s writing and cues from Kafka’s letters. The letters themselves are projected onto adjacent walls of the gallery.
© Muke Wang
Images of doorways, gardens and domestic interiors accompany the spoken texts. These images hint at lives felt but not seen. Some of the pictures depict actual places Kafka lived, while others taken in Moscow and San Francisco act as surrogates for Kafka and Jesenká.
© Muke Wang
The exhibition is not a history class, nor is it copying a historical event. The use of projectors and other modern devices make it a new moment, simply informed by the past.
Letters in the Dark: Franz Kafka and Milena Jesenká is on show from September 17th till October 29th at Benrubi Gallery.
© Muke Wang
© Muke Wang
© Muke Wang
