Prunk

Whereas Michael Barthel's spoken pieces were previously never presented without the presence of his own voice, the book publication Prunk (Spleandor) now brings together the work in its written and graphic form for the first time. To create the book, the artist brought together and arranged spoken word pieces from 2011 to 2017 into six chapters.

Barthel touches on places that have been entered, that want to be entered or that cannot be entered. Places of love, of friendship, of living together in economic circumstances. Varying perspectives around the concepts of protection, refuge, and home/homeland are immanent in the texts. The intermingling of these realms with the language itself, which exists within these states and relations, forms the essence of Prunk.