Some thoughts by Madalana on the ArtTalk on Feb.4, Kolumba

The excavation site was a revelation to me: right in the core of the old holy city of Cologne, well sheltered from the surrounding streets and at the same time flooded with natural light.
We can see the ruins of the church (almost) completely destroyed in world war II. She shows us vestiges and layers of Roman buildings.
Interesting to listen to the legend of St. Columba, imbued with the magic, supernatural quality of miracles in the Middle Ages (told by Karla on the spot).
The exhibition by Paul Thek, in the museum itself, impressed me by the merciless, awe-filled quality of his deeply catholic mind. In the works on ‘flesh’ and ‘the body’ he wants to convey the phenomenon of decay which the human being undergoes when the spirit leaves the body (flesh). His works are subtly connected with the idea of performance, so that each of his works are so to say ‘staged’ and full of symbolism.
It was quite an experience: weird, different.

Madalena Lima-Sax