Artist Christian Jankowski stages 'Holy Business' in four Lübeck churches.
Churches shape the image of the city of Lübeck. In four of them, shops open a branch for a fortnight and provide 'service to the customer' in the sacred space. The encounter between faith and business is organised by the internationally renowned artist Christian Jankowski. The faithful, art lovers and customers are offered not only clothing (Holtex in the Johann Heinrich Wichern Church) or furniture (Bolia in the St. Peter's of Lübeck), but also food (Landwege in the Protestant Reformed Congregation of Lübeck) or electronics (JessenLenz in St. Jacob's of Lübeck). Basic human needs - clothing, housing, food, communication - have provided orientation for the selection.
In his artistic work, the artist, born in 1968, deals with relationships between different population groups, with the relations between art, media and society. As early as 1992, he went 'hunting' with bow and arrow in a supermarket. In 2013, he was able to convince high-ranking representatives of the Vatican to take part in a Jesus casting. In 2016, he curated the international avant-garde exhibition Manifesta, placing an entire community of artists right in the middle of Zurich's professional and everyday life. Jankowski, who holds a professorship at the Stuttgart Art Academy, follows in his practice the montage principle that has proven itself in modernism. However, he does not combine different newspaper clippings in one picture like the cubists, but everyday behaviour; in the 'Holy Shops', therefore, he combines church service with shopping.
A provocation? Jankowski refers to the centuries-old connection of merchants with their churches, who invested here for their salvation. The art project wants to point to the self-evident proximity of church and everyday life, of faith and art in earlier centuries: Real estate of faith can also only be created if you can pay for it. The many discussions during the preparation of the project show that, above all, central questions of contemporary religiosity are being negotiated here: Faith, participation in political life, liveliness, criticality and conflict, tolerance. The 'holy shops' do not have an unambiguous message; for a limited time they create a space for thought and action for a new experience and critical debate, in which meanings can emerge in the first place. For this to happen, all participants must become active. Jankowski, at any rate, wishes for the courage to play: "It needs this open game of the parties that can only be judged in retrospect. I believe that the world would be a better place if people engaged with each other more freely."
Dates press briefing:
Thursday, 19.10.2023, 12 a.m., Evangelical Reformed Church, Königstr. 18
Opening tour on Saturday, 21.10.2023:
15:00, Johann-Hinrich-Wichern Church, Andersenring 29
16:15, Evangelical Reformed Church, Königstr. 18
17:00, St. Jakobi, Jakobikirchhof 1 (with sermon by Pastor Lutz Jedeck)
18:00, St. Petri, Petrikirchhof 4
A project of the Overbeck-Gesellschaft e.V. in cooperation with St. Petri, St. Jakobi, the Johann-Hinrich-Wichern parish, the Evangelical Reformed Church Lübeck, Bolia A/S, EVG Landwege EG, JessenLenz GmbH and Holtex Edith Pohl e. K.