Guided Tour of the Exhibition RUNNING AWAY IS EASY, IT´S THE LEAVING THAT´S HARD

The early departure from the small-town and rural homeland serves as the starting point of the one-hour video work "Running away is easy, it’s the leaving that’s hard" (2025) by Mauricio Hölzemann and Pierre-Yves Delannoy. The two artists are a couple. Alongside their individual artistic practices, they also work as a duo. In their exploration of belonging and identity, they combine documentary intimacy, fiction, and humor. For the work presented at the Kunstverein, both returned together to where they grew up: Filderstadt in Baden-Württemberg and Châlons-en-Champagne in France. After a long time, they confront their own past there and allow each other to partake in their memories. Both individuals, as queer persons, left the countryside for the city. What motivated them, what was left behind, and how does one's own biography alter the view of what was once home? The return signifies a farewell for which there was no space back then. In familiar, mostly uneventful locations of childhood and youth, the lonely past and the jointly experienced present overlap in the sweltering heat of summer. Past expectations, hopes, and wounds find a new present in storytelling and listening. What was once an escape can later become a conscious farewell. Running away is easy. It is the farewell that is hard.