INTRODUCTION   OTHER PROJECTS   BIOGRAPHY   INSTALLATION VIEWS   CONTACT     HOME		Starting April 23rd 2004 Antwerp will be the "World’s Book Capital" for a year. UNESCO has decided to grant the city the title of ‘World Book Capital’ on the basis of its unusually rich offerings as a book capital. The City of Antwerp is preparing an international programme   ABC2004 will put the alphabet to the test. Twenty-six writer/artist tandems will explore the limits and possibilities of one letter the starting point of a new, joint work of art. The outcome is anybody's guess. Throughout 2004-2005, the various results will be unveiled at major literary events in the city, in any number of forms: a one-off theatre performance, a permanent intervention in a street, a trinket or gigantic installation... The twenty-six big bangs will be recorded for future generations in as many cahiers: exclusive publications in which the tandems are introduced, the evolution of their creations documented and the work (plus its traces) highlighted from a variety of angles. The Letter H and the twenty-six exclusive publications >>> more   The major aspects of life... Apparently they are so grand that we lose sight of them because we are so used to the dimensions of the banal. Or maybe that’s precisely where they do reside, there, in the banal and the evident? The major aspects of life... we can see them when sharply sizing up the banal. Of course, we don’t need grand gestures or dramatic movements to do this. Small interventions are sufficient. Another word, another light, another context... That is how Judith Herzberg * and Patrick Merckaert * see it. They were inspired by H. A letter, a sigh, often casually forgotten or (in large parts of Flanders) replaced by a G. High time to reHabilitate the H.   *Judith Herzberg Biography Judith Herzberg (the Netherlands) made her debut in 1963 with ‘Zeepost’, a volume of poems that brought her instant recognition and which was followed by what can by now be considered an entire body of work. She has written for film, television and the theatre. The prestigious P.C. Hooft Prize (1997) stands out among the many prizes that she has been awarded. She uses her graceful, often playful and sometimes even downright funny verse to express sorrow and loss, unpleasant truths, mourning and oblivion.   *Patrick Merckaert Three elements are of essential importance to Patrick Merckaert (Belgium): architecture, light and image. Later on this poetic artist added words to this list. His “integrations” in architecture tend to have a reinforcing effect on space and inject it with renewed meaning. The images that Merckaert offers us are his highly individual postcards from the edge between reality and his own version of this reality.