Photography

-2020-

The work Freie Kunst is Christian Jankowski’s annual gift for the Friends of the Stuttgart Academy, in 2020. In an edition of 150 copies, the work includes Jankowski’s own written rejection letter from the Hamburg University of Fine Arts from 1991, application no. 13718. The first sentence of the letter, crucial for the title of this work, reads: “we regret to inform you that your application to study in the department of FREIE KUNST was unsuccessful.” As a commentary, Jankowski provides the photocopies of the letter with biometric images of hand signs from different contexts, which, just like liberal arts, have different levels of interpretation and understanding. The images of the artist’s hand taken at the passport photo booth, cite institutional application culture. They are stapled to the artist’s signed copies with gold paper clips and are presented to the Friends of the Academy in eggshell-colored binders.