There is an old tree trunk in the foyer of Villa Merkel, a sculpture of about seven meters in height, supported by a slanting, reflective, bright green piece of epoxy resin; a landscape in flowing mist; floating porcelain objects—these are settings from a film script. The work is by JAK. But who is JAK? Did JAK, as we read these lines, already manage to get inside our heads? JAK has been working on the film SOUL BLINDNESS since 2013, yet the development process is unlike that of a »normal« film project. From one exhibition to the next, JAK continues to write the story of the screenplay using various media such as drawing, text, video, sound, sculpture, painting, photo and installation. Continually shot, this film describes how the main character is dealing with agnosia, a psychological anomaly where objects can no longer be unambiguously identified or attributed, and which is therefore also known as »soul blindness«. Interestingly, JAK, as author and artist in one, and the agnosia as a »disturbed« relationship with the world, can’t be clearly separated, so that the participants and the layers combine with one another, and render each other unrecognizable: JAK remains anonymous, and the agnosia remains in the realm of the illusory, which corresponds rather well to its status as an illness. Meanwhile, everyday actions from the screenplay for SOUL BLINDNESS are transformed and take shape as stage sets. In the run-up to this complex JAK project, there were three solo exhibitions in Stuttgart, Taipei and Leonberg. In March 2017, the exhibition at Villa Merkel had its overture at the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg in Brussels. The book gives an extensive insight into JAK’s work, but there is absolutely no information about who JAK actually is!

Exhibition:
Villa Merkel, Galerien der Stadt Esslingen, 18/6 – 27/8/2017

JAK is an artist group, the member are unknown. But we know they work together since their studies at Art Academy Stuttgart.

Andreas Baur is director of the Städtische Galerie Villa Merkel in Esslingen, edited and wrote critical essays for the monographic catalogs of Darren Almond, Willie Doherty, Hamish Fulton, Alan Kaprow, Manfred Kuttner, Andreas Schulze, Marcus Weber as well as for GOOD SPACE (2017) and Better than de Kooning (2015) among others.