Donika Kelly transforms a public window into a luminous meditation on memory, landscape, and the quiet power of language at Kunstverein München.
29 June 2026
American poet Donika Kelly brings the written word into the public realm with ‘A mist, a wind, the old dog and the hill’, the latest presentation in Kunstverein München’s Schaufenster series. Installed as illuminated text and visible day and night from Munich’s historic Hofgarten, the work invites passersby to encounter poetry beyond the page, dissolving the boundaries between literature, public space, and contemporary art.
Presented alongside a German translation by artist Tanja Widmann, Kelly’s poem unfolds as a quiet yet evocative reflection on atmosphere, memory, and the emotional landscapes that shape human experience. Rather than asking audiences to enter a gallery, the installation meets them where they are, transforming an everyday window into a site of contemplation and encounter.
The exhibition forms the second chapter of the Schaufenster initiative, developed in collaboration with artist Jason Dodge and his poetry imprint fivehundredplaces. The series foregrounds unpublished and forthcoming poetic works, presenting them as temporary public installations before publication. In doing so, it expands the possibilities of exhibition-making, positioning poetry as both a visual and a spatial practice that belongs within the rhythms of daily life.
This exhibition is on view at Kunstverein München in Munich until 13 September 2026.
