Kissing Through a Curtain

Kissing through a Curtain addresses the brief, mediated, and imperfect nature of the act of translation, including work by an international group of artists who examine our attempts to communicate across and despite apparent borders.

"We are different, you and I, and the qualia of our consciousnesses are as divergent as two stars at the ends of the universe. Whatever has been lost in translation in the long journey of my thoughts through the maze of civilization to your mind, I think you do understand me, and you think you do understand me. Our minds managed to touch, if but briefly and imperfectly." -Ken Liu

Kissing through a Curtain takes its title from the essay “Translation: Better Than Never Kissing at All II” by poet Kwame Dawes, in which he recounts hearing another writer speaking about how Russian verse fell flat when translated into English because, taken out of its original context, its rhyming and meter seem stilted. “How,” she asked. “Would you like to be kissed through a curtain?” to which someone in the group quipped, “Better than not kissing at all.” 200 pages. Hardcover.