Edmund de Waal in the Silk Room of the Feuerle Collection

After the extreme year 2022, many wish for a transition to more peace in all areas. In the time between Christmas and New Year's Eve, as well as the first days of the new year, there is often a feeling of unreality. Time blurs or stops, one forgets which day of the week it actually is, and in the best case, we find a space and the leisure to reflect. What was and what is coming. What we need and where it is time to let go.

An art space that is wonderful for reflecting and getting quiet - and above all, staying quiet - is generally always the Feuerle Collection, located in a former World War II telecommunications bunker renovated by British architect John Pawson.

Not only do you have to book in advance to visit the non-profit institution in Berlin Kreuzberg, founded by Désiré Feuerle and Sara Puig in 2016, but the private collection of international contemporary artists' positions, imperial Chinese furniture and ancient art from Southeast Asia that Désiré Feuerle has assembled create a setting that invites visitors* into a space of silence and concentration.

1 | 5

On the upper floor of the collection, the works of the English artist Edmund de Waal can currently be seen in the newly opened Silk Room until 23 April 2023. Waal is also a collector - in this case, his own vessels, which he carefully models individually and brings together in display cases.

An archive of forms and structures, if you like, which radiate a remarkable clarity and calm in their presence and sometimes even a quiet serenity. Clarity, harmony and certainty prevail in Edmund de Waal's ceramics. His meditative works within the dialogue of the Feuerle Collection, where tradition meets modernity (also architecturally), simply do well in the chaos of our time. And especially now, at the beginning of the year, when a conscious pause is significant before everyday life catches up with us again.

Or as de Waal puts it: "I work with things. [...] And then I arrange them, find places to put them, on shelves or in showcases, in houses and galleries and museums, move them back and forth so that they are in the light or in the shade. They are installations or groupings or a kind of poetry. They have titles, phrases or a line that helps them on their way in the world."

This poetry reminds us that we can always rearrange our view of things and ultimately bring more peace to our lives, relationships, and the world around us. It is a gift of art to us. I wish all readers a peaceful, honest and happy new year.

Esther Harrison

Autorin Kunst Berlin