"YOU WANT IT DARKER - Songs about the approaching death"

On the one hand, there are the musicians and their songs about approaching death: David Bowie, Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Depeche Mode, Bob Dylan, Joy Division, Joni Mitchell, Patti Smith, Scott Walker, Yello. They once seemed immortal. Until the first ones died and founded Club 27. Today, the survivors are old and death is near, which finds expression in their artistic work. But since their music is invisible, five visual artists were inspired by the songs about approaching death and created profound works that suggest an open approach to the subject of death.

The sculpture "Lullaby" by Thomas Scheinitz is an intensive examination of one of Scott Walker's last songs, which circles death in a deeply coded way. In terms of form, the artist draws on the enigmatic polyhedron from the etching "Melancholia" by Albrecht Dürrer.

Bettina Scholz named her sculpture "Death is not the End" after the song of the same name by Bob Dylon. It is an attempt to visualise Michio Kaku's string theory, which states that the human soul can travel through time and thus represents death as an interface to eternity.

The Zurich artist Nora Fehr created two sewing works for the exhibition and extended her series of embroidered song lyrics with "Lazarus" and "Shine" to include two death-haunting songs by David Bowie and Joni Mitchell.

The photographs in the Aérolith 1-5 series by Julien Lescoeur have a claustrophobic and sombre effect, expressing feelings and soul states of agony in an unsentimental way.

Photographer Anton Corbijn has portrayed singers who have dealt with death in their lifetime in dignified images. The exhibition features the legendary image of Ian Curtis, shortly before his suicide, turning around for the last time.

The exhibition was curated by Berlin-based publicist and curator Max Dax. As part of the exhibition, a lavishly designed catalogue delves into the topic with interesting background knowledge, exclusive articles and interviews by well-known music journalists.

The playlist for the exhibition can be found on Spotify:

Go to the playlist