INTO ALTERITY_ void I gap I hole

Our understanding of space has long been that of a container of the world. It was a homogenous box in which our experiences took place, particles gravitated away from or towards one another based on their mass. Field theory later found that this container is not actually empty but saturated with a continuous electromagnetic field transporting charges along a mutating network of lines.

Waves of charges travel around us at all times: what we see is not the other, but the oscillations of these waves between us and the other, we see light. Similar to the electromagnetic field as a distinct entity, general relativity proposed the gravitational field as a distinct entity: one which actually is space. Newton’s box doesn’t exist.

Instead, our experiences happen within the tides of dynamic gravitational relations.

[To be continued.]

For our second exhibition we are proposing a reflection about the spaces we interact in, based on a perspective beyond the physical: if we abandoned the conception of space as a mere container, and rather perceived it as a conglomerate of multi-dependent relations, we might be able to look at it as a dimension of comprehension.

Thus, instead of cartographing the relations surrounding and crossing us within this exhibition (its conception and its aftermath) from the vertically above, we propose a series of suggestive codes to navigate through them as equal, (mis-)comprehending, relation-making participants:

constellation, 
= here
or a system of orbiting events that is observed from the inside to gather experiences and make associations

gravity, 
= tension between here and there
or the bodily feeling of alterity

significance, 
= where a space becomes a place 
or how gravity introduces meaning to experiences

identity, 
= orbit
or where I go in reaction to the bodily feeling of alterity

gaze, 
= the gravitational warping of light around orbiting events 
or the projection of me onto/through/around you

emptiness,
= invisibility of gravitation, significance, identity and gaze
or where we comprehend

[VOID, GAP, HOLE.

A heavenly absence. Harmony in silence. A lack of sense.
An interval, a break (dance) in continuity, the missing part.
An enticing, yet unbearable, human feeling of hollowness.

Here, however, lies our chance towards
comprehension, alteration, progression.]

Contributing Artists
Andreas Sahl Andersen, Kristina Cyan, Elham Hadian, Sepideh Hassani, Sandra Lazànyi, Jérôme David Meinlschmidt, Lisa Pirker, Valerie Prinz, Sagar Sarkar, Janne Schipper, Ilay Schwingshandl, Haruka Tomotaka, Charlotta Öberg

Design by
Neo Zhang

Curated by
Juan Rodrigo Torres Plata and Jennifer Posny