Lara Rüter & Volker Gerling: Of Apes and Humans

Volker Gerling has been on the road for over twenty years as a thumb-film artist, creating animations on his thumbs. During his travels, he presents thumb cinemas - short, jerky sequences of photographs that capture moments of human encounter and form a distinctive art medium.

Multi-award-winning author Lara Rüter worked at the Leipzig Primate Research Institute and had intense encounters with apes there. This led to her book Ape Love, which tells of moments with great apes and explores what it feels like to be human - a text that weaves together science, poetry, and autobiography.

Thomas Koch hosts the evening. Musical accompaniment comes from the Cologne-based trio LUAH, which was awarded the German Jazz Prize for their singing.