Werner Schwab

HE and SHE speak as if conducting an experiment. They feel out various spaces, examine their changing feelings, test various conditions. They talk about reality, debate God and blasphemy or speak of the way they might live. Together or alone. For, switching constantly between an intimate and distant address, they also play through the possibility of love. But when love is there, it is denied. When it is not there, it is talked into being with escapist phrases. Caution and aggression, directness and evasion, progress and regression – the dynamics of the discussion are limitless. The VEHICLE – sometimes with female attributes, sometimes with male, sometimes completely bare – is the projection of diverse physical states.
Offene Gruben, offene Fenster is also a manifestation of the power of language.
“Speech is ultimately deliberate. People colour their words personally to have a shared understanding of each other, where possible. Every word, every notional connection is actually a tryout. On the other hand, the spoken word can be viewed as fresh blood that you want to suck up after you have hurt yourself.” (Werner Schwab, preface to Offene Gruben, offene Fenster)