Zangers, zangeres 1967

Editor: So, here we have Aat Verhoog’s "Zangers, Zangeres," or "Singers, Singer" created in 1967. It's an etching, giving it this cool, almost ghostly quality. It feels… unsettling. These figures seem to be communicating, but with empty speech bubbles. What do you make of it? Curator: Unsettling is the perfect word. To me, it's like a half-remembered dream, or perhaps a repressed memory trying to surface. Notice how the figures are both there and not there, like whispers in the wind? And those horizontal lines traversing their bodies... Almost like bars, or maybe music staves? I wonder, are they trapped, or liberated by their song? Editor: Trapped... or maybe just connected. They do all seem linked by that single horizontal line. It's like they're sharing the same stage, or even the same breath. But if it is music, why the empty bubbles? Curator: Perhaps the music is not in the words, but in the space between them. In the emotions, the anxieties, the shared humanity. It’s interesting that the print is titled in plural – "singers" rather than "song." It makes me wonder, do we really need language to communicate, to understand each other, to sing? It's an intriguing commentary on the absurdity of modern communication. Editor: That's such a great point. It’s about the act of singing, rather than the message. So maybe, those empty bubbles aren't empty at all. Curator: Exactly. Perhaps they're brimming with unspoken emotion. Maybe it is even our emotions that fill the blank space, so in that sense the etching allows us to feel through its aesthetic expression. And you, young one? What emotion do you read when you see this artwork, in this particular light, today? Editor: Hope. These ghostly, striated figures now have purpose. Curator: Lovely!