The Names of Love

“When you walk into the exhibition space at the Gessnerallee what you hear is a symphony of names; you see people on screens saying the names of people they’ve loved – and then you start to think about your own love life. Perhaps you will sigh inwardly a little while remembering all those who have passed by. But the whole time you can look at the faces of others who have loved too. And you will be surrounded by countless names, every one of which stands for a person who was loved at least once. Beautiful!”

Züritipp, 12. April 2012

“Short videos have been created, often no longer than a love song. And yet every series of names stands for a whole lifetime of love. You can sit down in front of some of the screens, whereas others are positioned so that you need to bend over a little to be able to make out the names on the audio tracks that are set quite low. This creates an intimate proximity while listening to the names of the people who were loved. Someone mentions a Ferdinand. Who might that have been? Their great love, a brief flirtation or just a disappointment? We will never know. Lots of secrets are kept by the woman who makes long pauses between each name, seemingly remembering people she does not tell us about. She has a right to do this as the voyeuristic detective game is only one level of Staub’s installation. A second can be found by standing next to the loudspeakers that are mounted on the beams in the gallery. From here it is possible to see all the screens and hear collages edited together from the individual series of names. You can start to play Memory. The Ken you just heard was loved by that young man back there. And Ferdinand belongs to the lady over there who only mentions the names of dead people. And then you start to remember all the people you’ve loved: the ones who drifted away, the ones who were over-rated, the ones you could never get through to, the ones who will never die. Oh…”

Tages-Anzeiger, 16. April 2012