The Analog World

Letters to Be Burned – Exhibition

As part of an exhibition at the Finnish Institute Berlin Juliasys designed the installation “Letters to be burned” dedicated to the oevres of Franz Kafka and Emily Dickinson. It is a meeting of two writers similar in character but separate in time and space. Both left behind a life’s work in manuscripts, diaries and letters – and a last wish, that these were to be burned. The installation presents a dialogue in quotations as digital projections, two-dimensional prints and three-dimensional objects using the typefaces “Emily In White” and “FF Mister K”.

Letters to Be Burned exhibition is dedicated to Emily Dickinson and Franz Kafka

Neither Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) nor Franz Kafka (1883–1924) lived to experience their breakthrough as writers, but today both are considered to be pioneers of modern literature. Their last wish that their manuscripts were to be burned was not fulfilled – not by Dickinson’s sister Lavinia and not by Kafka’s best friend Max Brod. They instead prepared the works for publication and thus preserved some of the most ingenious manuscripts of literary modernity.

an object from the Letters to Be Burned exhibition in Berlin — **Die ungeheure Welt, die ich im Kopfe habe …** “The tremendous world I carry in my head …” excerpt from Franz Kafka’s diary, typeface Mister K in rusted steel

Emily Dickinson’s poem on wood, made with Emily In White font — **Publication is the Auction Of the Mind of Man – …**excerpt from Emily Dickinson poem; engraved wood in Petri dish

Herbarium and a print with Emily In White font, object from the “Letters to Be Burned” exhibition — **To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee. And revery …**excerpt from Emily Dickinson poem; paper, dried plants, Petri dish

Instalation from the “Letters to Be Burned” exhibition — Emily Dickinson’s poetry and herbarium confined and protected by Petri dishes. In her late years Emily Dickinson almost never left the confinement of her family’s house and garden.

Instalation from the “Letters to Be Burned” exhibition: text by Franz Kafka, font: FF Mister K — **Aber jeden Tag soll zumindest eine Zeile gegen mich gerichtet werden.**“Every day at least one line shall be directed against myself.” Franz Kafka diary, typeface Mister K in rusted steel

Instalation from the “Letters to Be Burned” exhibition: prints on wood; typefaces FF Mister K and FF Mister K Dingbats — Prints on objects and textiles with typefaces Mister K, Mister K Dingbats, Mister K Informal and Josef K Patterns

Cushions from the “Letters to Be Burned” exhibition: textile prints; typefaces FF Mister K Regular, Informal, Dingbats, Josef K Patterns

The Opening of the Exhibition “Letters to Be Burned” — Impressions at the exhibition opening; images: The Finnish Institute, Berlin

Exhibition opening in the Finnish Institute, Berlin