Kein Schöner Land (No Fairer Land)

No fairer Land
There is no land, near and far,
More beautiful than ours at this time
When we gather
Neath' the tilia trees
As night falls.

Kein schöner Land in dieser Zeit,
als hier das unsre weit und breit,
wo wir uns finden
wohl unter Linden
zur Abendzeit, Abendzeit.

(First verse of the German folksong “Kein Schöner Land”)

"Anke Becker places her chain of letters between two tilia trees at a crossroads - where two paths meet yet at the same time move away from each other. The reflecting letters remind of a cheerful festive decoration, but the song line "Kein schöner Land" (“No fairer Land”) unfolds an ambivalent mood. Depending on the knowledge of the viewer follows mentally the further song text or the associated melody. The well-known German folk song from the early 19th century, which begins with these words, celebrates friendly gatherings in unspoiled nature. In view of its present-day endangerment, the invocation of beauty seems at the same time like a reminder to protect it. The surface of the letter elements also reflects their surroundings. In this way, an interplay between word, image and imagination is created, which, through the situational location at the crossroads, leads to the metaphorical question of the direction one wants to take. Anke Becker's installation, however, also hints at a political dimension. The typeface she chose, "Futura," was developed during the Weimar Republic by, who was defamed as a "cultural Bolshevist" in 1933 and dismissed as head of the Munich master school for book printers. Thus, the artist's work opens up a dazzling field of debate about the connection between nature transfiguration, nationalist myths of origin, and longing for freedom." Susanne Burmester