By Heidi Trautmann

What does Emin Cizenel want to say with his exhibition „Berlin Notes 07“. He agrees that he as a traveler remains a stranger when visiting cities which is normal when not a friend takes you by the hand and introduces you to its living heart. His notes are very fleeting ones, on the surface, shady finger and foot prints he has left or others did for him, momentary impressions by the corner of the eye, thoughts that go through his mind when walking the streets, a war troubled dark sky with airplanes plunging, some tickets with marks and the bond to Turkish insignia is never far. Diary notes, scribbled while doing something else, yes.

What does he want to tell us? There is hardly any mention of humans, an eye behind a curtain, no characteristics, he notes footprints and finger marks as if he would not look up to the eye level. There are some realities of the past to be recognized, did he see them in 2007? Did he see the dead and not the living?

It needs the written explanation of Johann Pillai – beautifully written – to build up a connection, and at the end he says….a rain of brushstrokes pours down over the footprints of the traveler, washing away the traces of the cities, of histories, of memories and myths, of flights and landings, of love and loss…through the rain, God smiles.

The exhibition a poem perhaps? Tell me, Emin.

The exhibition is still open until January 15 at Sidestreets opposite the Court in Lefkosa.