Together

The work by Winfried Muthesius, Master Artist of the project, is titled „together“. In the gateway we see his 4 square meter skull painting, painted with black oil paint in bold, energetically applied brushstrokes. The abstractlooking painting has a real point of reference. Sketches of the skull of a man who had presumably fallen victim to a pogrom were the inspiration. Muthesius reduced the sketches more and more and finally captured them in deep black on white canvas. Together, he and his young artist colleagues carried death into the midst of life. The skull image is emblematic of everything that threatens our lives: pogroms, wars, famine, natural disasters ... They block the way to life. On the left, the sign „no entry“. But in the setting, luminous lanterns catch the eye. There is light. Hope, then? Where could this come from? Muthesius photographs dancing youths without flash or devices, to capture just the hint of their movement. Like spheres, we recognize them on the right and left or directly in front of the picture as shadows. The pedestrian sign on the right indicates them: Attention, people! Picking up on the nuances of mood through interaction with place and people, he paints over his photograph white, in moving strokes. In the Western world, white stands for purity, goodness; in Asian also for mourning. With this color-symbolic ambivalence, he supplements the inner tension found in the arrangement and shot with an overlying one that provokes the allimportant question: Can we successfully counter anything life-threatening? A „yes, but“ follows. Only together!