With:
Jannah Loontjens (poet-curator)
Aam Solleveld (artist)
Katja van Stiphout (graphic design)

The worth of 'autonomous visual capacities' and 'inherent value of art' is still spread by its literal words. Many put it forth bluntly, cherishing the sentiments attached or the aura it provides. Meanwhile, the exact parameters of their presence have hardly been tested, nor have these parameters been shared in-depth with the audience of art. Onomatopee believes that we need to reason with the voices of our visual culture, and considers creative practices to be design practices, since they revolve around motives and means.

I've always been fascinated by the rhetorical strength of 'The Poetic Momentum': the moment one is supposed to undergo when confronted by an artwork, when overwhelmed by sentiments and sublime grasps. Still, this notion has never before been so obsolete.

We're living in an information age; we know how information works. We cannot just think visual data is there for God's sake. Still God's sake is present when we start positioning ourselves within our visual surrounding. This moment is often described as poetic.

In order to maintain the richness of the cultural capital acquired over the last decades, we should at least define its parameters!

Therefore, A Task for Poetry aims to unveil the poetic domain in the presentation of visual art. In order to do so, I invited three subsequent poets to guest-curate three subsequent solo-exhibitions. On behalf of the audience, as well as my own, I asked: 'how can we envision and experience the poetic domain in art?' To gain focus and to be specific on the art itself, the poets were asked to select an artist for a solo exhibition. Simultaneously, they could select a graphic designer to work with on their project, in order to visually communicate their stance.

Eventually, with the production assistance of Onomatopee, each poet supervised the PR, the exhibition installation, the opening statements and, finally the catalogue. Onomatopee gave the poets complete liberty and assistance. We put aside institutional frames so as to gain a neutral sphere, enabling the poet to start researching the poetic realm in the presentation of visual art. The issue of shallow-marketed institutional PR, as well as the institutional targeting of visitors, was passed on into the hands of poets.

So, A Task for Poetry questions both the parameters of the poetic and the institutional frame that represents it.

Each edition has its own stance, sense and appearance. We leave the results up to you and to the critics, with hopes to initiate a proper discourse, as well as further develop the sense of the poetic in the presentation of visual art.

The first edition, guest curated by poet Jannah Loontjens, brought out the role of the subject, as actor engaging within this sphere. The core group of the poet, artist and graphic designer brought out their authorship alongside one another, as a variety of layers to be read parallel and related to one another. During the process of their production, they very much responded to each other’s processes, influencing and inspiring one another. Eventually, during the opening, Jannah brought in actress Nataliya Golofsastova. Nataliya and Jannah performed the poems of Jannah, specially written for this project, in a mix of personal style: acted and poetically read. This illustrates the roles of each person involved, from author's to visitors, each person engaged does have his own stance, partly personal, partly taken along.