Winner of the 2013 Sylt Visual Artist's Residency, Kai Lossgott writes on his experience in Sylt.

A letter from the artist.

Dear Friends

It all happens in scorching 22 C, under blue skies, in a balmy breeze and unmistakeable quiet.  Built into the sand dunes, the Frisian thatch houses keep their secrets.  Its a bit like Disneyland and a bit like Ghostville.  It is mystery and hope, the cutting wind and a bicycle.  It wakes you at 5:30 and is only dark after 11 pm.  It is the sheer potential of really having enough hours in the day, if you just knew how to fill them.  It is not posting it on social media because you know you’d have to be here to understand.

Flat-out on the beach, I have spent hours staring at the sky while the camera did its job, shooting time lapse frames of the slowly shifting shadows in the sand.  I have ended up entirely alone with the waves for hours in the middle of the night and cycled home at 1 in the morning with a broken headlight.  I always knew I could see in the dark.  The revelation is that I can do this here without fear.

The walls of my apartment are plastered with mind maps.  I am joining dots and closing circles.  In my work here I have stumbled upon two strong new images that represent years of writing and thinking.  They point the way to the further images to be explored and what will be required.  More I will not say.  It is my long experience that work in progress should be kept a secret.  Sometimes one does not quite realise what a work in progress one still is.  Other times one is just craving approval.  Hindsight gives us fresh eyes to assess the value of what we have done.

I could not have chosen to come at a better time, as the holiday season attracts not only visitors but plenty of things for them to do.  Just outside my window is a theatre that fills nightly with vocalists, illusionists, jazz musicians, comedians, drag divas, people with fake American accents, and maverick entertainers with unique blends of all of the above.  I have kindly been gifted with tickets, and so there is much to look forward to in the evenings.


Photos:  The boys in the blue photo are the Bavarian band “LaBrassBanda", everyone's dancing barefoot and it involves tubas, folk rock-metal-techno fusion, and Bob Marley's lovechild on the base.  In the pink photo is the folk singer Dieter Thomas Kuhn in rose-coloured sequins and chest hair toupé, with twenty-something groupies up on stage going crazy, as we happily chant our way through the Woodstock summer of free love - in German.  That’s my friend Bianca on the bicycle, who stopped by for some lovely days at the beach talking about art, love, the universe, and sunsets.  A few days ago, I was invited to dinner at the local legendary SansiBar.  I got a life with some visitors from Munich in their rented coupé.  The Sansibar menu was extensive, thrilling to read, and would blow the average South African household budget out of the water, hence I tasted, chewed, smiled and listened most of the time.  The dessert was a first for me - candied olives and frozen yoghurt ice cream.  Then we raced home under an open roof and starlight.  The movie star look is free.

No details on the new work yet, haha.  I did sell a print to a wonderful lady with a sunflower on her head though. She turned out to be a hardcore attorney by profession.  I love surprises, and they keep coming.

You asked, now you know.  I am in over my head in gratitude for this wonderful opportunity, and I’ll keep you posted. ;)

Best Regards,

Kai